Texas flowers go wild: After two tough springs, roadside color returned

No, Gary Womack said.

The zebra was not "Photoshopped" into the field of bluebonnets.

Womack, photographer buddy Linda Hammond and their spouses this year took a spring wildflower road trip to the Brenham area. He did not say how many varieties of Blue Bells they tasted, but they found many a field with bluebonnets on it.

"Boy they were beautiful," he said. "The bluebonnets were just outstanding."

Those who enjoy photographing wildflowers rejoiced this year. After the record freeze of 2021 and temperatures in the 100s last spring, pickings had been slim. Some road warriors didn't even bother filling the tank with gas last year.

But bountiful rains this year brought back the bluebonnets, paintbrush, wild daisies and other varieties.

"The wildflowers were spectacular this year compared to hardly any last year," she said. "We made a quick trip to Brenham and the green grass fields were filled with spring mix of bluebonnets, phlox, Indian paintbrush. Picturesque."

A favorite area they found was south of Brenham, near Industry, a town of fewer than 300 people south of Brenham.

"I didn't know about Industry, but we spent a lot of time around there," he said, laughing.

They took backroads around Brenham and arrived.

"We just stumbled on it. There's not much to it, but it's a beautiful spot," he said.

There, they came across a zebra in a field with four or five longhorns. Cattle, bluebonnets and a zebra - which one is out of place?

Womack said a man he talked to while eating breakfast in Industry said there was a zebra down the road. Seeing was believing.

"There were seven or eight zebras out there with four or five longhorns," he said. "That one zebra was begging to be posed."

Both Womack and Hammond photographed them, and Hammond submitted a shot for the annual Doug Hodel Wildflower Contest. Hodel, who enjoyed submitting his pictures of springtime in Texas, died March 26, 2017.

Bluebonnets, or not

While photographers sought to bring out the spring color, Lisa Ambrose's photograph taken off a road near Clyde offered a more subdued image, almost wintry due to the light and her white flowers, perhaps flowering quince.

The flowers flourish amid the chaos of a broken fence and twisted wire. It doesn't look like the Hill Country, but it illustrates West Texas. A landscape that isn't traditional, such as Hamilton's winding road through the foggy country.

"I take photos every day when walking on the road where I live just outside of Clyde city limits," Ambrose said.

A reminder, perhaps, that beauty often can be found right outside our doors, not necessarily miles and miles away.

Ambrose's photographs was judged Best of Show.

Still, a favorite of photographers is the bluebonnet. In 1901, the Legislature proclaimed it the state flower.

Its season is short has passed but other wildflowers continue to bloom.

"The last couple of weeks , with all this rain, they've really come out," Womack said. "The problem is there's so much junk growing up among them, it's hard to get good shots."

Womack on Tuesday was on his bulldozer in Trent and talked about all the pickerel weeds he was seeing in that area. It's a weed but it produces a colorful purple flower. He was thinking of transplanting some at his house, though he commented that he needs more weeds at home like he needs another dry, hot spring.

Wildflowers right here

Womack's photos were not all from the Hill Country area of Texas, where photographers flock.

Some came from Jones and Fisher counties.

His photo of a deer was in a pasture near the Womack house. He found an observation post and waited. There was one stalk preventing a clear shot - from his camera, not a gun - but the deer would not cooperate, he said, laughing.

"That was the best shot I could get," he said. "I wish I could move (it) but she wouldn't let me."

Another shot of a color mix was on the roadside. The sun had popped from clouds and brightly illuminated the scene, bathing the flowers in yellow.

"I was driving back roads, I think I was working. I thought that was as good a color mix as I've seen," he said. "I just stopped and grabbed it right quick."

Hammond said the Abilene area wildflowers were prolific this year. Indian blankets, also called firewheels, .

"Mexican hats and coreopsis were found in abundance. Yellow flowers have dominated landscapes

"I've never seen so many of the yellows," she said.

Photographing flowers is something he enjoys. Womack even has made trips annually to Colorado, taking his camera.

While he was on his dozer, his wife, Rose Ann, was on a Florida beach with Hammond and other family members. Their new search was for seashells with the kiddos.

Womack said he was perfectly content to be out in the field, enjoying what turned out to be a splendid spring in Texas.

"I tell you what," he said, "I'd rather be out with the weeds and wildflowers than on a crowded beach. That's just me."

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Texas flowers go wild: After two tough springs, roadside color returned