Texas wildflowers by guest blogger Nell Carroll!

in Garden Focus by Britt — April 12, 2010 at 12:00 am | 7 comments

In Texas, I feel like the land celebrates my birthday, which is at the beginning of April. The wildflowers are spectacular this time of year. Fields of color like patches on a quilt.

It makes me want to see it from above to see if it does look like one.

Along the highways, in Bastrop, Texas, there are the vivid deep pinks of the flax and then in the pastures bluebonnets mirror the sky and looks like lakes.

Some fields have all the colors mixed up looking like confetti all over the earth. Mother Nature bonked the earth with a cascarone. Which is an egg shell filled with confetti popular around Easter in Texas and Mexico.

Another popular flower found along roadsides is the Indian Paintbrush.

The bright orange looks wonderful mixed with bluebonnets on the side of the road. The Chippewa Indians used Indian paintbrush to treat rheumatism and as a hair rinse because of the high selenium content in some paintbrush plants. I don’t know if this includes the Texas Indian Paintbrush.

In a few weeks my roses will explode. I have reds, pinks, orange and white, sadly no yellow rose of Texas unless you count my mop of Lady Banks Rose that erupted all over my trellis.

Nell Carroll very aptly describes herself as a Photographer, professor, gardener, equestrian, photo editor, housewife and mom. I describe her as one to the best photo editors USA Today ever had. I first me her there in 1994 and learned a lot just from watching her work. She has a great eye and a passion for the photography world. To see some of her amazing still lifes visit her still life page . She also does great people photography, weddings and equestrian photography.

She divulges her amazing career on her website, “I always say that I moved to Texas because I am way to friendly for the East Coast, which is where I grew up.” she explains, “I also hated shoveling snow, no danger of that here. My career began in Binghamton, NY as a shooter for the only newspaper in town. I got hired at USA TODAY, as a photo editor, after 5 years of shooting in Binghamton. I realized I don’t have the drive to devote 100% of my life to shooting pictures so I became an editor. I left Washington DC to be a photo editor at Th Statesman in Austin. I have been there ever since. I teach a photojournalism class at the University of Texas. I have a big garden, 3 horses, 2 dogs, a cat, a husband and a son. Life is never dull”

I want to thank Nell again for guest blogging!  She has shown us that Texas’ famed wild flowers do in fact live up to the hype!  Thank you Nell!  Please stop by her web site! How cool it must be for her to be able to visit these fields any time she wants!  Texas – your on my tour list!

I am slowly getting better and really wishing I could be out there capturing Sping!  It came so early!  Watching the National Cherry Blossom parade on TV today  as oppossed to being there, didn’t quite do it for me.  I just have to get out there!  Until then… stay tuned for more fantastic guest bloggers from all over the country!

‘Til Tomorrow…

Britt : )

Related posts:

1. The Joy of Roses by guest blogger Nell Carroll!
2. The Antique Rose Emporium by photographer Nell Carroll.
3. The tulips at Longwood Gardens by guest blogger Noreen Freebairn!
4. The Gardens at Roche Harbor by guest blogger Laura Segal!
5. Community Gardens by guest blogger Karon Flage!

Tags: bluebonnets Feature featured Texas wild flowers