What a beautiful day! We are enjoying this friday working in our home office....and spending time outside with Kate (2.5 years) while she plays in the Texas Bluebonnets on the High Oaks Ranch!
The History of the Texas Bluebonnet!
When you think of the bluebonnet, you think of Texas.... The bluebonnet is "not only the state flower but also a kind of floral trademark almost as well known to outsiders as cowboy boots and the Stetson hat," historian Jack Maguire wrote. The bluebonnet is an annual plant with deep blue flowers. Several species of the plant cover Texas with color from March through May. Even more than its beauty, the bluebonnet's position as the Texas state emblem has ensured this wildflower a place in the history books.
Early in Texas history, Spanish priests gathered bluebonnet seeds and scattered them around their monasteries. This gave rise to the myth that the flower originated in Spain. Actually, the Native Americans wove tales around the bluebonnet long before the Spanish arrived. Not only is the bluebonnet native to the Americas but, according to Texas A&M University, the two predominant species of bluebonnet are found only in Texas and nowhere else in the world.
In 1901, the Texas Legislature got serious about selecting a state flower. Options included the cotton boll and the cactus, but the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in Texas championed the bluebonnet. The Colonial Dames made their case by presenting a painting of bluebonnets by Miss Mode Walker of Austin. On March 7, 1901, Governor Joseph D. Sayers signed a law making Lupinus subcarnosus the official state flower of Texas. Many Texans favored the more showy Lupinus texensis, though, so the "Bluebonnet War" began as proponents of each species fought verbally to give their favorite bluebonnets a place in history.The Bluebonnet War lasted 70 years. It finally ended on March 8, 1971, when Gov. Preston Smith signed a resolution making both species the official state flowers, along with "any other variety of bluebonnet not heretofore recorded."
Three more species of bluebonnet were later discovered, so Texas now has not one, but five state flowers. The five species are Lupinus subcarnosus, Lupinus texensis, Lupinus Havardii, Lupinus concinnus and Lupinus plattensis.Whichever species is in question, Texans love their bluebonnet and have ensured it a place in American history. Photographers and artists like Rita McWhorter continue to make the bluebonnet a focal point for their art. Towns like Chappell Hill host annual bluebonnet festivals to celebrate this bright blue prairie flower. As U.S. Sen. John Cornyn writes, "...the bluebonnet runs wild throughout Texas and deep in our state's history."
Read more: The History of the Bluebonnet | Garden Guides
Written By: Andrea Di Salvo
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