Our state flower, the Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis), is turning roadsides and open fields blue all over Austin. Many Austinites get into the spirit in their own front or back yards, scattering bluebonnet seeds in sunny gravel gardens to enjoy the bonnie blues at home. Bluebonnets make excellent companions with agave, Texas sotol, and acacia, as this pocket meadow in the Rollingwood neighborhood shows.

An acacia in butter-yellow flower glows above a small lake of bluebonnets.

A wider view shows clipped cenizo around the acacia, with Texas sotol in front.

Agave (A. americana? franzosini?), like a steely blue campfire

The bluebonnets crowd heedlessly around those beautiful, spiky leaves.

Gold, blue, and green are the colors of an Austin spring.

All material © 2006-2015 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.