Apr 17, 2006 10:58 pm US/Central
Texas Drought Takes Toll On Bluebonnets
by Joel Thomas
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 News) ―
Lush blankets of bluebonnets are a signature sign of Texas spring. But the lure of the Texas lupine is not to be found this year.
Texas roadsides now are green. They aren't blue with bluebonnets, or red and orange and yellow, from other wildflowers.
The Fort Worth Nature Center is the largest city-owned nature refuge in the U.S.
Suzanne Tuttle, manager of the Nature Center, walks along a path surrounded by parched grass. She thinks back to just a couple of springs ago. "It was just like a totally blue sea," Tuttle says. "People coming out to take photographs. We had to put up a sign, please don't walk on bluebonnets because if they get trampled they may not go to seed."
Now, her feet crunch unrestricted through the grass. You have to search for wildflowers at the Nature Center.
"These are usually opened, like a hand," Tuttle said as she delicately touched the leaves of a small, withering bluebonnet.
The tough bluebonnet seed needs some scuffing of its surface and then winter rainwater. The water causes the case to swell and crack open so the plants growth can begin.
"It's primarily not enough rain during a critical time when they should have been germinating in the winter," Tuttle explains.
It's a disappointment to workers at the Nature Center. They schedule popular wildflower walks months in advance. There certainly aren't any wildflowers to see year. The question is will the draught also affect wildflowers next year?
Tuttle says bluebonnets live only one season before dying and leaving more seeds.
"Their roots don't stay alive and they don't come back up again the next year. So, if we don't have good seed production this year that's going to slow down the seed set next year. So there could be a little bit of a lag. But there's also a lot of seed in the soil."
Those seeds may be able to make it until next winter. They'll rest in the parched ground. With rains at the right time north Texas may see fields painted by wildflowers again next spring.
(CBS 11 News)
