Monday, April 4, 2011

Highway Heaven (Texas Wildflowers)

If you're planning a road trip in Texas, spring is the time to do it, 
when wildflowers parade up and down the roadside.

Even without the rains that really make them pop, 
 a few hardy show-stoppers strutted their stuff for me on my return trip from Houston 
along Highway 71 a week ago.
There were the usual bluebonnets,
spilling across an open field...



The pink primroses (aka buttercups) filling the highway median...


(notice the one lone Indian Paintbrush?)



And then there was this field fronting an old farmhouse outside of LaGrange, 
that caused me to gasp, 
brake 
and steer off the road so I could capture the beauty in my camera. 
Bluebonnets alone are pretty,
 but sprinkle some red drummond phlox in there, 





and, well, you'll gasp 
and pull off the road for photo after photo after photo, 
several almost exactly alike, 
because you just can't stop snapping away...



until you're worried the people in the farmhouse are going to come out and speak to you - 
or maybe just call the police...



So you hop in your car and go - 
after taking one last photo of the awesome oak tree guarding the old farmhouse, of course...


What a wonderful surprise! 
Hilary at the Smitten Image presented me with a Post of the Week award for this one. Yay! 
Thanks, Hilary! 
Click on the image below to check out the other POTW winners.

17 comments:

  1. Oh, you're in heaven over there with all those lovely flowers! Superb shots!

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  2. This has to be the prettiest lawn in creation. And I love the way you shot the flowers through the barbed wire fence - amazing!

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  3. I can keep staring at these images all day. I can't imagine the beauty in person!

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  4. I can keep staring at these images all day. I can't imagine the beauty in person!

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  5. Such stunning displays of color! You really captured spring in Texas perfectly. I can't wait to get out and see the bluebonnets this year.

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  6. Amazing massive photos!
    Beautiful composition!
    Love them all!

    Betty

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  7. I used to live in Texas. Thanks for bringing back that spring beauty that was as big as Texas itself.

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  8. Great pix!! Where along 71 were you seeing the most? Mom wants me to drive her this weekend to see wildflowers, but she can't travel far. (From Southwest Houston)

    Thanks,

    Sammee
    cwarner@lockelord.com

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  9. Thanks, everyone. What a sweet birthday surprise to get a POTW from Hilary for this one! Thank you, Hilary!
    Cindy, these were mostly around LaGrange, if I remember correctly. I took quite a few in Ellinger and then drove down a bit and had to stop again when I saw this farmhouse.

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  10. Oh Barbara ~ those wildflowers are heavenly! How wonderful it would be to run bare foot through them ~ I bet they smell good!

    Very enjoyable!
    xo Catherine

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  11. Wildflowers are very good to see.
    I remembered the old song " Yellow rose bud in Texas."

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  13. wow wow wow...i was going to say i love the blues but then i got down to the mixed batch and the barbed wire and wow...

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  14. The farmhouse and the field of flowers for me and a POTW for you lucky week indeed.

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  15. Truly stunning beauty here Barbara.
    Wonderful work!!

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