The 30th annual Burnet Bluebonnet Festival was held here recently. While we may live in the "Bluebonnet Capital of Texas", we just didn't have a bumper crop of them this year. And boy, do these people around here take their bluebonnet seasons seriously!
Being a native Texan, I am partial to our state flower. And when my Yankee husband calls them BLUEBELLS, it burns my rear end. Poor boy was born in the Buckear Buckeye state of Ohio and therefore doesn't know any better. At least that's what I tell myself. I just don't tell him that. At least the fruit of our state tree won't kill you when ingested.
This lupine has become a trademark of springtime in the Texas Hill Country with fields painted in all shades of blue. Bluebonnets have inspired artists for generations. I coveted a painting that hung in my grandmother's home for as long as I can remember. It now graces a wall in mine.
They also inspired our favorite Sunday morning breakfast spot. We've gone to the Blue Bonnet Cafe for years, but they've been serving hungry Bluebonnet Trail customers for over three quarters of a century. When we first moved back to the area, Taylor was about 8. He screamed with delight when he saw the sign that read "PIE SOUP ETC". He'd finally found his Shangri-La: A restaurant that served pie soup!
There was also a place near my childhood, summertime home-away-from-home on Inks Lake. The grown-ups would take us up the hill from Rock Away Campground to the Bluebonnet Tavern. They'd enjoy a cold beverage and let us kids loose with a few quarters to put in the jukebox and play a little shuffleboard. The old Tavern still stands, but sadly, like many of the good dance halls in Texas, they boarded up the doors long ago. Good times.
This lupine has become a trademark of springtime in the Texas Hill Country with fields painted in all shades of blue. Bluebonnets have inspired artists for generations. I coveted a painting that hung in my grandmother's home for as long as I can remember. It now graces a wall in mine.
They also inspired our favorite Sunday morning breakfast spot. We've gone to the Blue Bonnet Cafe for years, but they've been serving hungry Bluebonnet Trail customers for over three quarters of a century. When we first moved back to the area, Taylor was about 8. He screamed with delight when he saw the sign that read "PIE SOUP ETC". He'd finally found his Shangri-La: A restaurant that served pie soup!
There was also a place near my childhood, summertime home-away-from-home on Inks Lake. The grown-ups would take us up the hill from Rock Away Campground to the Bluebonnet Tavern. They'd enjoy a cold beverage and let us kids loose with a few quarters to put in the jukebox and play a little shuffleboard. The old Tavern still stands, but sadly, like many of the good dance halls in Texas, they boarded up the doors long ago. Good times.
I remember the days of mother and grandma hauling us kids around for miles to find that perfect place for bluebonnet photos. I still have many of those photos, and I would love to share them. But Lord knows where I've stored them!
Anyway, back to the FLOWERS! What little rain we have had this year came at the right time. I had some random volunteer bluebonnets come up in my flower bed this year.
We put the flower beds in last year and when we went to add dirt, we just bought the cheapest stuff we could find. Allegedly, it was to be comprised of top soil and compost. What it actually consisted of was crushed granite and maybe a little sand. We mixed it with some good ole fashioned cow manure and went with what we had. No one expected anything to grow in it, but we had some gorgeous plants last year, many of which are blooming again this spring.
I assume that the seeds for the bluebonnets came with the dirt, or perhaps by some helpful little critter. Regardless, I am grateful that the prettiest bluebonnets in the county were found right in my backyard...and in my driveway.
I transplanted about five plants that popped up in the drive. Three of them survived. I am still enjoying these lovely little blue babies, but they are starting to fade and are going to seed. I am taking care to watch the seed pods and mentally marking them in my flower bed for future springs. They will be fondly stored there in my mind with all of my other Bluebonnet Memories.
Remember, if you're ever near the "Bluebonnet Capital of the World" the second weekend in April, come see visit us and see the sights! Maybe we will have that bumper crop of years past.
Remember, if you're ever near the "Bluebonnet Capital of the World" the second weekend in April, come see visit us and see the sights! Maybe we will have that bumper crop of years past.
