Texas Bluebonnet – Lupinus texensis
 (Read 500+ times)
By Harold Sink
|
|
|
The Lupinus texensis, AKA the Texas bluebonnet, has been growing naturally in this great state before it was ever settled. This lupine is a very showy flower from early March until late in May sometimes creeping into the early part of June. Commonly misconstrued as a perennial, the Texas bluebonnet is a winter annual. It is also the official state flower of Texas.
Mostly grown for its sparkling blue beauty, some people plant these as a deterrent to unwanted wild critters such as deer, rabbit, skunk and stray cats and dogs. Sadly to say, this plant is not much of a deterrent to any animal, but can be poisonous. Vinca Major and Mexican Heather are better deterrents unless these critters are very hungry.
This finicky plant is also a victim to many creepy crawly pests. Grub worms, sowbugs, pillbugs, rolly-pollys (woodlice), strawberry and red ants, etc. are just a few of the many prey that enjoy eating on the root system and the plant during the winter and spring. These winter garden pests can destroy your garden before it can barely get started.
The best and most recommended advice is to use pest resistant bait. This sounds sort of like an oxymoron, but it does help. Consult with a local pest exterminator or garden nursery as to which one will be best for you. You may find that a tested soil sample will be in your best interest as it will determine what your soil is lacking for the bluebonnets.
Texas bluebonnets grow best in well-drained soil in fields, on hillsides or anywhere there is sun for eight (8) to ten (10) hours a day during their blooming season. Sandy, loamy and gravel type conditions are most favored by these fragrant bloomers.
Soils high in clay or limestone will need amending should you decide to plant in them. With the results and advice for your soil, you will be heading in the right direction to prepare the soil to grow many bluebonnets.
An interesting fact about planting from seeds is that the overall planting success with seeds ranges from 60 to less than 20 percent. Most people have the success in that lower percentile margin. Try not to be discouraged from planting bluebonnets. They are truly well deserving of your garden.
The average height can range from 12” to 24”, with germination ranging from 15 to 75 days. You can plant the seeds as deep as 1/4” to as little as 1/8” deep in the soil. Over the first couple of weeks you may water every other day. After that, once a week watering should be enough unless you have rain quite often.
These are a hearty plant once established and are extremely drought resistant. They also put high contents of nitrogen in the soil meaning less work for you. The winter leaves will cover the ground in a floret pattern reaching up to a diameter of 10” to 14”. You may not want to plant companion flowers in the winter as these florets turn a reddish color.
Texas Bluebonnets need the wintertime to establish a good root system so they will grow well in the spring. They are also best planted during September and October, usually no later than October 28 to 30 depending on the weather. As mentioned earlier, their blooming period is from March to May.
There are three methods that one can use to try to ensure the largest number of seed to produce. The first of these is scarification, followed by freezing and then cracking open with boiling water, and the final method being to soak overnight in water. I recommend the latter as this works with most seeds.
Scarification means to literally scar each seed to crack open the hard shell on the outside, thus exposing the inner part of the seed to the elements. Most people claim this is the only method to increase one’s chances of growing the most plants. Some people use short knives, while others use a nail file. This also requires patience and skill.
Freezing seeds is rather a hasty and procrastinator’s way of getting the job done quickly. Whether this method is the best for Texas bluebonnet seeds is still debatable. This may result in fewer seeds blooming in the spring.
A tried and true method for nearly every seed under the sun is to soak it for 24 hours in tepid water before planting. This doesn’t mean that the seeds that don’t show any growth at all in those 24 hours will not grow. It is just a better way of increasing your chances of having more flora in the springtime.
If you are storing seeds for next year’s planting, keep them out of children’s sight, as their seeds are more poisonous than the plants.
You can plant these in any type of setting, be it on burms, alleys, near sidewalks, etc. Remember that bluebonnets are a full-sun plant. They are very fragrant and have been known to attract a variety of hummingbirds as well.
Grown mostly in Central Texas, the bluebonnet has made its way up into North Texas by way of avid gardeners, naturalists and plant nurseries. The Texas bluebonnet is typically referred to as a blue flower, when in fact it is more of a blue-violet in color. At the tip of this flowering cluster are a few ice white blooms.
As there are other species of this plant, so are its color ranges. There are dark blue, faded blue, pink, red, and white versions of the bluebonnet. “So does that make it a pinkbonnet, whitebonnet, and so on?” Not in the least according to botanists. The white, or commonly referred to as the albino, is the rarest of these colors.
Since the Texas bluebonnet attracts such an array of butterflies each spring, an excellent companion plant for them is the milkweed. Milkweed is a favored plant for butterfly larvae once they have crawled out of the ground. Many gardeners are quick to pull this ‘weed’ out of the ground, except for those whose sole mission is to attract butterflies.
|
Author Bio Box: Harold Sink
 http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/wildseed/39/39.5.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebonnet
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/flowers/bluebonnet/bluebonnetstory.html - This is the most interesting website about Texas Bluebonnets
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=lute
Didn't really find what you were looking for?
|
|
|
| |
|
|
![[Valid RSS feed]](images/rss.gif "Subscribe to our XML Feed for RSS")
