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We selected our annual wildflower drives with the assistance of Wildflower Center botanists and other experts. While even the pros can’t entirely predict the whims of nature, you’re bound to see some wildflowers on these routes, which are scenic year round and offer plenty of additional diversions. Contact the individual sites for specifics on spring wildflow-er conditions. And as always, take your camera … and take your time.
Northeast Texas
Each April, the Ennis Garden Club sponsors Ennis Bluebonnet Trails, a monthlong event that showcases the area’s wildflowers. The members monitor 40 miles of roads around Ennis, making it easy for travelers to head straight for the best displays of bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, verbena, Texas five stars, Arkansas lazy daisies, prairie parsley, broomweed, winecups, scarlet gaura, rose vervain, winter vetch, and blue-eyed grass.
While in town, visit Kachina Prairie, 30 acres of rare blackland prairie off Baldridge Street, then fuel up on Czech pastries at Kolache Depot Café & Bakery on nearby Brown Street. Roll down US 287 south to Corsicana, and look for wild petunia, prairie parsley, and Engelmann’s and Lindheimer’s daisies along the way. From Corsicana, take Texas 31 to Athens, a gentle roller-coaster drive past green pastures, ponds, stands of pines, and flowers such as winecups, wild indigo, blue-eyed grass, horsemint, and pink evening primrose. Just before Kerens, a pond at a picnic area on the south side of the road sports a healthy popu-lation of spider lilies when spring brings enough rain. Other water-loving flowers to look for in bar ditches and on river and pond banks along this route include water willow, obedient plant, and germander.
In
Athens, take US 175 north, and turn on CR 3918, then on CR 3914, to Tara Vineyard and Winery. The tasting room is open Tuesday through Sunday, and a covered patio offers dinner and occasionally live music. Rest up at the two-story guest mansion overlooking the vines, or spend a quiet evening in one of two cottages nearby at
Oak Creek Bed and Breakfast, set on wooded acres where dogwoods bloom in early spring and pond frogs provide a campfire serenade. Oak Creek lies down a long country road off Loop 7.
Continue on US 175 to Kaufman, past Cedar Creek Reservoir, and watch for wildflowers, including echinacea, butterfly weed, and other milkweeds, as well as redbud trees in bloom. Michael Eason, a botanist with the Wildflower Center who coordinates collecting for the center’s seed bank, says the now uncommon dogtooth violet was sighted near Corsicana and in Kaufman County in the 1930s. Hard to see from the road, this flower appears in forested areas during early spring, and blooms before trees put on leaves. Eason would love to hear from anyone who spots its delicate, white, lily-like flowers.
Take Texas 34 back to Ennis, crossing the Trinity River, and look for larkspur, Indian paintbrush, wild verbena, and puccoon. If you stay overnight, you can catch a double-feature at the Galaxy Drive-In Theatre.
Source:
Texas Highways - The Serendipity of Wildflowers
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