Why are there so many bluebonnets near Texas highways?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Tuesday marks the first day of spring, a time many Central Texans affiliate with bluebonnets season. Late last month, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center confirmed this year’s wildflower forecast is especially promising, with fantastic blooms of bluebonnets, rosettes and other wildflowers expected.

Wildflower Center experts said early to mid-April is expected to be this year’s peak time of season. But if you’ve been driving around Central Texas, you’ve probably already spotted some blooms yourself, especially near highway corridors.

That’s courtesy of the Texas Department of Transportation’s wildflower program, which is a state-level initiative to cultivate more than 5,000 native wildflower species along state roadways. The program traces its roots back nearly 100 years.

State leaders created the Texas Highway Department in 1917, and wildflowers were noted as some of the first vegetation to crop up near state roadways, per the program’s history page. The department hired landscape architect Jac Gubbels in 1932 and tasked him to help “maintain, preserve, and encourage wildflowers and other native plants along rights of way.”

Come 1934, the department postponed any mowing activity — save for critical, safety-related efforts — until spring and early summer wildflower seasons had passed.

The program not only enhances beautification efforts but also minimizes the need for added maintenance and labor costs due to restrictions on mowing. Current maintenance work centers around strip mowing to allow the wildflowers and native grasses’ growth along TxDOT right of way, per the program’s page.

TxDOT purchases and sows approximately 30,000 pounds of wildflower seed each year to continue the program. Department officials encouraged visitors and passersby to avoid stepping on the wildflowers to minimize killing existing flowers or damaging the seeds.

More details on TxDOT’s wildflower program are available online.