Saturated in Red, White, and Blue

Inks Lake State Park turns into a wildflower paradise most every spring, though not every year is as saturated with color as 2024 was. The 1,200-acre (486-hectare) park sits in the Texas Hill Country’s Highland Lakes region. Its granite-and-gneiss shoreline hugs Inks Lake on the Colorado River, and it’s welcomed visitors since 1950. Of all the trails that wind through the park, my favorite for wildflower photography is Pecan Flats Trail — an easy, well-marked 3.3-mile (5.3-kilometer) loop through cedar, pecan, and hardwood woodland. It even offers a shortcut partway through, which comes in handy when the light is good and there are too many photo opportunities to pass up. The photos here were from a hike on that trail.

The bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) is the flower most associated with Texas, and for good reason. In 1901, the state legislature named a related species, Lupinus subcarnosus, the official state flower, but Texans took a stronger liking to Lupinus texensis — the showier bluebonnet that blankets roadsides and fields each spring. In 1971, lawmakers settled the debate by declaring any bluebonnet species found in the state the official state flower. This low-growing annual sends up flower spikes 8 to 20 inches (20 to 50 cm) tall, each packed with as many as 50 small, pea-shaped blossoms — deep blue at the base, fading to white at the tip. Bluebonnets typically bloom from March into May, occasionally lingering into June.

Weaving through the bluebonnets at Pecan Flats is Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa), also called Texas paintbrush. What looks like a brush dipped in red paint is actually a cluster of colored bracts, not petals, surrounding small, inconspicuous flowers underneath. The plant grows up to 18 inches (46 cm) tall and has an unusual survival strategy: it is hemiparasitic, meaning that although it photosynthesizes on its own, its roots also tap into the roots of neighboring grasses to draw off extra nutrients. It shares the same spring bloom window as the bluebonnet, which is exactly why the two so often turn up growing side by side.

Standing among the two together at Pecan Flats — blue and white spikes studded with bursts of red — it was hard not to think of the flag. Two and a half centuries after 1776, Texas wildflowers were still putting on the same patriotic display, without any help from us.

That is the story behind the shots. If you liked this post, you may also be interested in others featuring Bluebonnets, Flower Hour, Indian Paintbrush, Inks Lake SP, One Step, Parks, Sunday Stills, Texas, and Wildflowers. Until the next time, keep clicking and capturing the beauty your eyes find.

Posted for Terri’s Flower Hour #35 – partially (B & C).

Posted for Terri’s Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: Saturated in Red, White, and Blue.

Posted for Pepper’s One Step at a Time #17.

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Sources

• Wikipedia — Lupinus texensis — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupinus_texensis
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — Lupinus texensis (Texas bluebonnet) — https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=lute
• Native Plant Society of Texas — Lupinus texensis, Texas Bluebonnet — https://www.npsot.org/posts/native-plant/lupinus-texensis/
• Wikipedia — Castilleja indivisa — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilleja_indivisa
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — Castilleja indivisa (Texas Indian paintbrush) — https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=cain13
• Native Plant Society of Texas — Castilleja indivisa, Indian Paintbrush — https://www.npsot.org/posts/native-plant/castilleja-indivisa/
• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department — Inks Lake State Park Hiking Trail Guide for Pecan Flats — https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_p4507_0015t.pdf
• AllTrails — Inks Lake Pecan Flats Trail — https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/texas/inks-lake-pecan-flats-trail
• Texas Hill Country — Dive in: 5 Ways to Play at Inks Lake State Park — https://texashillcountry.com/play-inks-lake-state-park/

Suggested Photo Placement

• Header image: P1050794 — wide field shot, at the very top of the post as the header/featured image.
• P1050777 — place alongside the Indian Paintbrush paragraph (the vertical portrait shot of a single paintbrush against a bluebonnet spike).
• P1060307 — place near the closing paragraph, as a final visual echo of the red-among-blue theme.

Reference — Photo Titles & Alt Text

Photo 1 (Header) — File: 2024-03-28-P1050794-DxOTL.jpg

Title: Old Glory in Bloom

Alternates: A Field Wrapped in the Flag; Red, White, and Blue at Pecan Flats

Alt text: Wide view of Texas bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush blooming together in a wildflower field at Inks Lake State Park, forming a natural red, white, and blue palette.

Photo 2 — File: 2024-03-28-P1050777-PT.jpg

Title: Standing at Attention

Alternates: A Paintbrush Salute; Between the Blue

Alt text: Close-up portrait of a single Indian paintbrush bloom standing in front of a blue and white bluebonnet spike, with soft bokeh from surrounding wildflowers.

Photo 3 — File: 2024-03-28-P1060307-DxOTL.jpg

Title: A Spark in the Field

Alternates: One Flame Among the Blue; Paintbrush in the Crowd

Alt text: Macro shot of a single red Indian paintbrush flower glowing amid a soft blur of blue and white bluebonnets.