Bluebonnets!

[lesa]

So pretty! They often have paintings on Antique Roadshow with bluebonnets in them. Some artists are really known for them. I have a few lupines in my garden- they look nice until the aphids arrive!

 

[flowerweaver]

@lesa I've tried growing the northern lupines and they don't make it through the heat. They sure are lovely.

@bobm I keep my sheep and donkey corralled during bluebonnet season. There are a whole host of native plants poisonous to livestock here in the desert but animals avoid them as long as there is access to enough of the right stuff to eat; that is to say the land is not being overgrazed to the point where the animals have no other choice than to eat poisonous things.

 

[bobm]

@lesa I've tried growing the northern lupines and they don't make it through the heat. They sure are lovely.

@bobm I keep my sheep and donkey corralled during bluebonnet season. There are a whole host of native plants poisonous to livestock here in the desert but animals avoid them as long as there is access to enough of the right stuff to eat; that is to say the land is not being overgrazed to the point where the animals have no other choice than to eat poisonous things.

What exactly do you mean by bluebonnet season ? While it is true that most animals will avoid eating poisonous plants, but again, some will eat them without missing a beat even in lush pastures and / or in baled hay. I have seen quite a few of them in University emergency teaching hospital barn as well as some animals and aborted fetuses on the necropsy floor.

 

[majorcatfish]

lived in texas for 5+ years always love springtime driving down every interstate and state highway it was just a sea of blue along them.... would be interesting if they would grow out here......

 

[baymule]

I love to admire bluebonnets, but I don't plant any because of livestock.

 

[Nyboy]

wonder if they would keep deer away from fruit trees?

 

[thistlebloom]

wonder if they would keep deer away from fruit trees?

Be careful NYboy, now you're crediting deer with too much intelligence.
But if you were lucky maybe they'd eat them first.....and for those that think I'm cruel, well you probably don't garden where the deer are neighborhood thugs.

 

[baymule]

LOL @thistlebloom!!! I have a mental image of deer hanging out on the corner wearing plaid boxer shorts and their baggy pants dropped below their butt. A wife beater t shirt, tennis shoes and someone's beloved roses hanging out of their mouths. Haha!

 

[thistlebloom]

LOL @thistlebloom!!! I have a mental image of deer hanging out on the corner wearing plaid boxer shorts and their baggy pants dropped below their butt. A wife beater t shirt, tennis shoes and someone's beloved roses hanging out of their mouths. Haha!

Haha!
That's so spot on Bay! Especially the plaid boxers....red plaid....but you left out the sideways ball cap.

Oh, and the barbed wire tat around the neck....

 

[Carol Dee]

LOL @thistlebloom!!! I have a mental image of deer hanging out on the corner wearing plaid boxer shorts and their baggy pants dropped below their butt. A wife beater t shirt, tennis shoes and someone's beloved roses hanging out of their mouths. Haha!