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Texas Wildflower Driving
Tours
Experience our beautiful
Texas wild flowers in
their natural settings by
enjoying some of the many
tours and excursions
offered around the State
by garden clubs and local
communities.
There are more than 5,000 species of
Texas Wild flowers that offer unlimited
viewing pleasure to Texans and visitors,
and a challenge to botanists who strive
to name and classify all of them.
(Read
more...)
We offer a variety of ways to honor and
remember the beauty of one of the great
natural resources and attractions of
Texas. We can also customize your
remembrance to any of our distinct
regional selections of flowers. The reason
for the abundance of
Texas wildflowers
(more varieties than any
other state) is due in
part to the great
diversity of Texas
geography. Nature is never
at a loss to provide
plants for every kind of
environment, and the
geography of Texas covers
a wide spectrum of
physical settings.
The elevations in Texas
range from sea level to
the rugged peaks of mile
high mountains. Rainfall
measures more than 56
inches annually in the
jungle-like regions of
East Texas, and less than
eight inches in the
sun-baked Chihuahuan
Desert of West Texas. A
weather station in the
North Texas Panhandle
averages 24 inches of
snowfall each winter, but
at the subtropical tip of
Texas in the city of
Brownsville, it has yet to
record any snow fall since
the last century.
Texas wildflowers of every
kind, shape and color dot
the beautiful Texas
landscape. Delicate
orchids grow wild in the
humid tangle of the Big
Thicket East Texas. Eerie
flesh-eating plants
capture insects on shadowy
forest floors.
In the subtropical Lower
Rio Grande Valley, which
includes the southernmost
counties of Texas is a
year-round floral area.
Feathery palms overhang
the highways, and groves
of citrus trees are always
green. Yards are full of
Bougainvillea, and gardens
in December are filled
with giant Poinsettias
reaching 12 feet high.
The plains of North Texas
display Indian Blanket,
Prairie Verbena and
Milfoil. Also, the
delicate mallow flowers
grow throughout the
summer. Almost overnight,
prairie flowers can turn a
featureless plain into a
blanket of color.
You might prefer the West
Texas landscape where the
desert unfolds its
glorious arid scenery. The
prickly cacti and desert
plants like the Ocotillo
and Pitaya cactus displays
their delicate blooms of
spectacular beauty.
Entire hillsides may be
splashed with multitude of
Texas wildflowers.
Depending on the time of
year and location, and the
rainfall, almost all Texas
wildflowers may be found
along the Texas highways.
The Texas State Department
of Highways and Public
Transportation plants and
preserves Texas
wildflowers in a program
of beautification that has
spanned more than 40
years. The department is,
the nation’s largest
“landscape gardener” with
more than 800,000 acres of
highway right-of-way to
cultivate mow and care
for.
On barren locations the
Department seeds lawn-type
grasses and Texas
wildflowers. In peak
season mowing operations
are suspended during
primary blooming and
seeding seasons. When
mowed, part of the seed
crop is gathered and
scattered in new locations
along the right-of-way.
Texas is known for its
beauty by the mile.
In the right season you
can find Texas wildflowers
in roadside parks, rest
areas, beside bridges and
on stream banks. Texas is
wild with flowers! There
are many fine
tours for viewing Texas
wildflowers available
for your enjoyment. Take
advantage of the effort
made by proud Texas
communities to help you
enjoy this great natural
abundance. |
