Seas of indigo blossoms are beginning to ripple along highways and pop up in local parks. The iconic Texas bluebonnets are in for a banner year due to last summer’s drought and fall rains.
The bluebonnet has been the state flower since 1901 and has a pretty interesting legislative history, featuring some Texas heroines. But like any good Texan, we love legends as much as historical data, so we’re here to share a few stories behind the flower.
The lucky Lupinus
Some say Spanish explorers visited priests in the Holy Land who gave them seeds to take to the New World as good luck. The charmed seeds could be used to bribe Native Americans into cooperation. (We’re inclined to believe the flowers are actually native to Texas.)
The Lady in Blue
The Jumano Indians have a legend from when Christian missionaries were traveling through Texas and New Mexico. They believed that a nun dressed in a cobalt cloak over her habit visited them in their dreams. They awoke to find the fields where they were sleeping covered in blossoms the same shade as her clothing.
From the One-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People
City Editor Kate, here. We all have our favorite stories, but mine comes from a well-loved copy of “The Legend of the Bluebonnet” as told and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. In this tale, a young Comanche girl lost her parents in a terrible drought. All she had left was a cornhusk doll they made her. To appease the Great Spirits and end the drought, she sacrificed her doll, her most prized possession. The ashes scattered in the wind, and in the morning, the rain began to fall, spouting blue flowers when it hit the soil.
Bluebonnet photos are a springtime must-do, especially when you have a very good girl like Lucy. | Photo by @ftwtoday
Bloom watch
Ready to create your own bluebonnet stories? Here are a couple of spots to see bluebonnets in and near Fort Worth.
- Fort Worth Botanic Garden
- Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge
- Longhorn Park
- Airfield Falls Trailhead and Conservation Park
- Or if you’re up for a bit of a drive, head about 70 miles southeast of the city to the Ennis Bluebonnet Trails for a sea of state flowers, starting Monday, April 1.
Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t actually illegal to pick bluebonnets, but it is frowned upon in this establishment. If you go to take photos, just snap your shot and leave the flowers for everyone to enjoy — and so they can reseed and come back year after year.
