Nature
Rant: Quit Trampling the Bluebonnets, Y’all
All photos by Jason Weingart
It’s springtime in Texas and that means it’s time for pictures in bluebonnets. While fields are filling with blue, families and photographers set out to the country in search of the picture-perfect scene. Most are respectful and leave the locations as they found them. However, some feel the need to jump into them or stomp through to an untouched location.
I made several trips to the field off Highway 290 in Brenham, which has since gone to seed. But upon one of my last visits, I found that the thick blanket of bluebonnets had several large paths where what were once bluebonnet plants had been stomped down into mud holes.
Bluebonnets won’t return if they are destroyed before producing their seeds.
Occasionally stepping on a few is pretty much unavoidable, but some show blatant disregard for our state flower stomping through thick areas, mowing down many on their way. While this makes areas less scenic with each flattened plant, the big problem is that if the flowers are destroyed before they form seed pods, there will be no seeds to create plants for the following year.
Picking a few bluebonnets is not against the law, nor is mowing down an entire field of them.
These rumors have come about due to the fact if plants are destroyed, less will grow the following year. When I am photographing client’s children in the bluebonnets, I encourage them to pick a few, but I also walk them through the paths others have created. This not only helps ensure these locations will be good in subsequent years but also keeps them safe as I can see what they are walking into. You never know what’s hiding in that big patch of bluebonnets.
This is Texas, after all.