2010 is shaping up to be a banner year for Texas wildflowers! After a very wet Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 it appears that the Texas wildflowers are just about to start blooming like crazy! Read my notes and view my pictures of Texas Wildflowers from a March 2010 day trip to Central Texas. Most of the pictures are of Indian Paintbrush, Bluebonnets, Groundsel and Phlox.
Pictures of Texas Wildflowers including Indian Paintbrush & Bluebonnets
( Pictures located below )
Update: After reading this post and viewing the pictures, please see my recent post and Texas Bluebonnet Pictures.
Note: Please feel free to share your sightings or to assist in classifying the wildflowers. You can contact me or leave a comment below. Have fun and be safe! ~ Treye
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Texas Wildflower Sightings & Trip Notes
Late March 2010
RAINY, WET FALL = MORE WILDFLOWERS From what I read on the Internet, it sounded like most of the wildflowers were just starting to bloom in Central Texas, in between San Marcos and Houston. I live in Austin so I was interested in staying close to home. Therefore, I decided to take a day trip down to Central Texas to take pictures of wildflowers and explore the more rural areas!
I STARTED EARLY TO FIND GOOD LOCATIONS I began my trip early in the morning around 8 AM, fought my way through the Austin traffic and drove down Interstate 35 to San Marcos, Texas. In San Marcos I exited Texas 123 and headed south toward Seguin. I didn’t see many wildflowers blooming along the way to Seguin, so I didn’t stop during this leg of the trip.
SMALL PATCHES OF WILDFLOWERS EMERGE Just South of Seguin I began to see small patches of wildflowers. The first ones I stopped to take pictures of were near the intersection of Rodeo Dr. and Texas 123. There is a nice farm just West of 123 on Rodeo Dr. with lots of Indian Paintbrush and purple / pink phlox.
CLOSER TO STOCKDALE About 6 miles down the road from Rodeo Dr and Texas 123, there is a very large field of yellow flowers (I think they were daisies) at the Flying W. Ranch on the West side of Texas 123. The ranch entrance has a no trespassing sign, but you can take most of your pictures from the roadside. About 6-1/2 miles down Texas 123, near the intersection of County Road 427 and Texas 123, there are some nice Indian paintbrushes and purple phlox on County Road 427.
FIELD OF DREAMS The best field of Texas wildflowers I found on the strip was located off of FM 1107 just outside of Stockdale, Texas. Just as you enter Stockdale, driving South, there is a sign for 1107 to Pandora, Texas. Make a left onto FM 1107 and head Northeast, the field will be on your left. There are lots of Indian paintbrushes, daisies, groundsel and phlox. The only Texas wildflowers that this field was lacking were bluebonnets. All these flowers are very easy to photograph from the road. The owner of the field came out to say hi and to tell me that I could go on her property and take more pictures if I wanted. I stayed at this field for about an hour in the morning and decided keep heading east towards Pandora and Nixon, Texas. This general area, in between Stockdale and Nixon, had the most abundant Texas wildflowers in bloom. There are lots of places to stop and take pictures but you have to be careful pulling off on the side of the road because of the narrow roads.
AT NIXON GO SOUTH Once I got to Nixon, Texas I headed South on Texas 80 toward Gillett, Helena, and Karnes City, Texas. Another good spot with lots of Texas wildflowers, prickly pear cactus, native trees and barbed wire is located on the West and East sides of Texas 80, near the intersection of County Road 291 (Google has this labeled as 2285) and Texas 80. It’s before Helena, Texas. There is a nice mix of Indian paintbrushes, phlox, yellow groundsel and cactus.
MID AFTERNOON IN KARNES CITY Once inside Karnes City, I got on FM 99 and headed Southeast toward Coy City and FM 2924. There is another great photo opportunity with lots of bluebonnets, cactus and yucca located just Southeast of Coy City. In Flashing, Texas I turned right on FM 2924 and headed northwest. Once I got to FM 791, I turned left onto FM 791 towards Interstate 37 / 281. I found a really nice field of yellows, pinks and purples just before Interstate 37, on the Northwest side of 791. There was also a barbed wire fence and a broken down barn that made for great photo backdrop.
RETRACE MY PATH TO FAMILIAR SPOTS At this point I had driven almost 200 miles and I decided to turn around and retrace my path. This way I could take pictures of the Texas wildflowers around sunset in places that I was already familiar with. I really wanted to make it back to the field of dreams that I found just outside of Stockdale on FM 1107. I was able to make it to that field by about 6:30 PM for a 7:30 PM Sunset. The sunset ended up fizzling out but there was some great blue hour light.
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Google Map With Approximate Locations
[ Click here ]
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Camera & Photo Gear Talk
NIKON D90 All of these pictures were taken using my Nikon D90. I love this camera. For the price, you can’t beat it! Be sure to read my notes from my experience with the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D Mark II.
NIKKOR 80 – 400mm My best pictures of the Texas wildflowers were taken using my Nikkor 80 – 400mm VR lens. I have not used this lens very much. I was impressed with its ability to capture the flowers in razor sharp focus, bright vibrant colors and nice soft backgrounds. Got to love Nikon glass with Vibration Reduction (VR). The higher zoom also helped to take pictures of the Texas Wildflowers located on private property, just off the side of the road. My only gripe with this lens is that it is heavy, but the results were worth it! Finally, you can use this beast of a lens to protect yourself from wild Texas ranch dogs or chupacabra. I will definitely be using this lens for future Texas Wildflower photo trips. My wide-angle shots were taken using my trusty Tokina 12-24mm lens.
WHITE BALANCE I started out setting the white balance using my Lally Cap. Then after the first hour of doing this, I changed the camera settings to use the daylight preset white balance. Toward the end of the day, closer to sunset, the sky became cloudy so I changed the white balance preset to cloudy. The original RAW files looked a little washed out, but I was able to adjust the color settings using the Auto button in Adobe Lightroom. I did take a couple of bracketed exposures for HDR but never ended up using any of them.
SHORT DEPTH OF FIELD AND LOW ISO I really like how the pictures of the Texas wildflowers turned out using the smaller f-stops or shorter depth of field. It helped to bring attention to the flowers and make them pop off of the softly, blurred backgrounds. I tried to use a higher shutter speed to minimize camera shake and to “freeze” the Texas wildflowers that were swaying in the breeze. Most of the day I used a lower ISO setting, around 200, but near the end of the day and to sunset, I increased the ISO to 400.
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Pictures
Click here to view all 145 pictures of Texas Wildflowers
You can click the larger images to advance.
…or scroll down to see some of my favorites.
Update: I have more Texas Bluebonnet Pictures here.
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Favorites
Near Rodeo Dr. & Texas 123
Near CR427 & Texas 123
Field of Dreams just outside of Stockdale, TX - morning
Same Field fo Dream just outside of Stockdale, TX - sunset
Goat Bait for the Chubacabra
Got down low for this one - Short depth of field to blur the yellow in front of Indian Paintbrush and Phlox
Nice mix of Texas Wildflowers
Explosion of color! It was almost blinding.
Little bit of everything in this picture
Nice mix of Indian Paintbrush and yellow
Had to return to this spot just before sunset
Thought this one looked like a painting by Monet
Great blue hour sunset
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Update: I have more Texas Bluebonnet Pictures here.
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Other Sightings
1. Hi Treye,
Just read your post on wildflowers. We saw some spectacular areas
today on 775, a few miles south from I-10 towards Elmendorf. From
there to Mathis Road North near I – 37.
Cheers, Kathy
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
The flowers are just beautiful, we need to start a book so everyone can send in there own pics. You should see the beautiful flowers, going towards Victoria, through Yorktown. When you enter Yorktown, go straight. Do not go on the curve. You will pass so many beautiful scenes. Take a look if you will.
Beautiful pictures! I am headed to Fredericksburg this weekend with my D90. I am hoping to find some good scenery.
Thank you so much for sharing your wildflowers..beautiful shots..couldnt decide which one i liked better…sending to my dad in arizona, so he can enjoy also…thanks again
This is our second spring living just outside of Smithville and what a surprize! The back half of our property–a little over an acre–started to explode about three weeks ago. We have nearly 280′ X 200′ of solid Bluebonnets, with Texas Paintbrush, Red, Pink, Blue, Purple, red-Purple, and Blue-Purple Phlox, Five Spot, Spiderwort, a bunch of different yellow flowers and God knows what else mixed in. We may never be able to mow it, but for now it is the best wildflower place for miles and simply beautiful and the scent is really not too bad.
Treye,
Thanks for posting your photos. I’m up in the DFW Metroplex and although not as spectacular as the Hill Country, we are having some lovely patches of wildflowers. Just this weekend while driving to Ft. Worth along I-30, there were alot of bluebonnets along both sides of highway, especially when passing through Arlington.
This is a good pic. Man I love these flowers. There were a lot of bluebonnets along both sides of the highway, especially when passing through Arlington.
Beautiful photos. I saw the bluebonnets and Indian paint brush for the first time this spring while visiting my kids in TX. My friend is going to try and do a painting for me and I found your photos to show her. I have a wonderful photo of my daughter and her family in a field of blue bonnets. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for the photographs of your beautiful wildflowers. While reading James Mitchner’s book about the great state of Texas, I was trying to imagine the fields he was describing. I googled “bluebonnets and indian paintbrush fields” and I was blown away by pictures of the real thing. You gotta love the internet.
Although I wasn´t born in Texas I had the privilege to live there for many years. Now I´m thousands of miles away but heart remains there.
Thanks for your photographs I miss Texas, I miss the wonderful people I met there and I miss the Texas Bluebonnets.
Thanks for sharing this pictures.
Carmen
Wow…absolutely pics, thanks! I lived in TX a few years and miss the wildflowers. One of the best years ever was ’97 when for some odd reason, there was an increase in the number of all flowers. Driving thru Hill Country was like driving thru a rainbow. I think TX is God’s canvas.
Thank you, Treye
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