Bluebonnets...at last

My last post, and a few comments that I've made on other's posts, mentioned that Spring has officially arrived in the Texas Hill Country, bringing with it lots of colorful wildflowers, chief among them the Texas State Flower, Lupinus texensis, AKA the Bluebonnet.

The bluebonnets arrived early this year, with some bursting forth in February, but it is in April that they really shine. Everywhere you look, you see patches of bluebonnets - on the sides of the road, and on the pastures of local ranches, and even a nice bunch of bluebonnets by our mailboxes. Walking around our neighborhood, you see where people have mowed around bluebonnet growth when cutting their lawns, leaving bursts of purple to brighten up their front yard. That said, we hadn't really found a good place to photograph the native flower, until our daughter pointed us toward Lyndon B. Johnson State Park in Stonewall, Texas, where she discovered them while scouting out eclipse viewing locations. The photos above, and those below, were all taken there. Without further ado, I give you...the bluebonnet: