I spent some time these past few days driving around the Texas Hill Country. Along Highway 71 near Marble Falls, there are bluebonnnets appearing along the roadsides – not enough to take grand bluebonnet images, but enough to notice, which is nice. From first inspections, the coverage this year looks to be sparse – at least right now.

On 281 just north/east of Marble Falls, the old barn/house that is on the left side of the town as you leave does not have any blooming bluebonnets yet. It appears there may be some coming, but probably not like it was in 2010.

On a side note… with the construction ongoing at the bridge in Marble Falls, traffic is a complete disaster. It took me over an hour to cross the bridge. Everything is funneled down into one lane each way and on Sunday afternoon, it was a big mess. Avoid this area in times of high traffic use. Hopefully it will get better.

I’m hearing reports of Texas wildflowers appearing south of Austin. A friend told me bluebonnets and other wildflowers were appearing, including firewheels, phlox, and paintbrush, but nothing worth the drive yet… maybe in a week or two.

In the meantime, I have a bluebonnet that has appeared on my land (only one!), along with Indian Firewheels and Blackfoot Daisies. Yesterday evening I followed a ladybug around and took a zillion images of him on the Texas Wildflowers, and I even got a few pictures of wildflowers I thought were keepers. Here is one.