Last week,  I spent 3 days in the Brenham, Texas area photographing the spring bluebonnets and other wildflowers.  This is normally a good time for the blooms in the Brenham area,  but due to cooler-than-normal weather in January and February this year,   the wildflowers are later maturing this year.  In addition,  due to the extreme drought last October during germination time,  there are fewer plants.  While I found bluebonnets in a number of locations that I visited,  they were less mature and much sparser than in recent years.   Some favorite areas that I drove by had no blooms at all this year.

My first stop was at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historical Area, which usually has fields full of bluebonnets and wildflowers.  The photo above shows one such location early in the morning with the sun casting long shadows across the field. This area looks to have received enough rain, but the grasses are growing faster than the bluebonnets and already choking them out.  Still, a tranquil early morning wildflower scene, with bluebonnets highlighted with purple verbena.

In the same park,  some more mature bluebonnets pictured below were found in an area near the visitor center building.  Perhaps these flowers benefited from some sun reflecting off the building and creating higher temperatures to help them bloom earlier.

Nearby,  a fresh Indian Blanket bloom also appears to have benefitted, as these wildflowers don't normally appear until mid-April in the area as the bluebonnets wane.

A short drive away in Independence, Texas,  I found bluebonnets at the Old Baylor historical area.  These blooms were less mature and some areas looked like they needed rain,  which they received over the last few days.  The photo below features the historical ruins with a bluebonnet-covered hillside in fhe foreground.

The Indian Paintbrush appeared to be lagging behind the bluebonnets in emerging, and in most locations I only saw a scattered bunch here and there.  As I was driving down a county road early one morning,  I found the cluster below on the shoulder of the road lit up by early morning sun shining through a gap in the trees lining the roadway.

The major roads in the Brenham area had some of the best displays.  There were plenty of flowers along US 290 from Houston to Brenham, and State Highway 36 northwest of Brenham had some nice areas.  This photo was taken just off Highway 36 and had a nice mixed hillside of bluebonnets and paintbrush with trees just beginning to wake up in the background.

Texas received lots of rain this week,  which should have benefitted existing blooms.  I am hearing there are some good displays in the Navasota area, not too far from where some of these photos were taken.  I hope to make it out again in a couple of weeks to see how the season is progressing.

I'll be featuring photos from my trip on my social media feeds for the next couple of weeks. Follow me on Instagram or Vero, where  I post a new photo most weekdays featuring my current photographic activities. 

Thanks for stopping by and reading this blog post!

Scott