Ron's Favorite Wildflowers
The flowers featured in these pages are fairly common along the East Texas Coast. Each time I considered featuring a flower, two or three more came to mind. Those that were blooming at this writing helped to narrow the field down.
The Texas Paintbrush was the easiest choice since it is second only to the Texas Bluebonnet in popularity. In fact, if you see a field of Bluebonnets, you will almost always see Paintbrush intermingling. Roadside Fire Wheels look like hundreds of pinwheels blowing in the wind. A colony of Spiderworts takes on the appearance of countless blue butterflies.
Inspired by Lady Bird Johnson, who worked to pass the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, the Texas Department of Transportation maintains thousands of miles of wildflowers on our roadways. This makes the hobby of "flower watching" as accessible as making your morning commute.
Photo by Linda Bonnette