Flower power

Southern Living, Mar 1999 by Carlton, Michael

Come travel into the magical midst ofnature's grand est show.

Teresa Holland's eyebrows crinkle in thought, and tiny frown lines pull at her lips. "Well, no," she says in answer to a question. "We don't have wildflower trails around Beeville. I mean, in this part of Texas, the flowers are just everywhere!"

Teresa, who serves as manager for Bee County Chamber of Commerce and who has lived in Beeville for 30 years, says this as she drives along a winding, flower-dusted country lane, one of many such roads in this mostly rural area northwest of Corpus Christi.

"There's no one particular place I go to see them," she says as we approach a lemon-yellow field with a dreamy lavender shawl thrown around its shoulders. "They're just a part of our lives. We protect and respect wildflowers around here.

"You drive through the neighborhoods in Beeville and you'll see a patch of wildflowers where people have mowed around it to save it," she continues as we drift around a gentle curve and encounter a meadow as red as a sunset. "We have so many flowers here, and yet everyone wants their own."

That doesn't mean they don't share their flowers, for the good people of Bee County are happy to point visitors along this lane and that, bragging about one field of Indian paintbrush, another of primrose. They'll tell you where the lantana blooms, and the prickly pear, and they'll whisper that if you take a right at the old iron fence and a left at the big live oak, you'll see a field of wine-cups that are as burgundy as the best French wine. There are bluebonnets too, but the real show in Bee County is red and purple, orange and salmon, lemon and lime.

All through the great wildflower regions of Texas-from Corpus Christi up to Austin, particularlyMarch and April spread colorful invitations in the fields.

If you'd like to venture into the rainbow of Texas blossoms this year, here's a triple dip of our favorite potof-gold roadways. These three routes are not as well known as the Hill Country bluebonnet trails, but all are guaranteed to take you into Kodachrome fields and lasting memories.

Bee County

Bee County was buzzin' last year when-thanks to generous winter rains-wildflowers were at their absolute best. Weathered fence posts trailed through fields bursting with yellow, pink, and purple. The lime-green foliage of gnarled mesquite waved like long, lacy fingers above deep pools of color that encouraged exploration. It was a time of incredible bounty and unending beauty.

One of our favorite routes begins right in Beeville, the county seat. Take U.S. 181 south 10 miles toward Corpus Christi, and turn right on Farm Road 797 in Skidmore, which loops into Farm Road 1349 back to Beeville. This drive will take you past an extraordinary array of wildflowers-tall scarlet spikes of skyrocket burst beside waist-high purple thistles backed by the canary blooms of prickly pear cactus. Just down the road showy primrose bloom near white prairie larkspur, stiff-stem flax, wine-cups, and a graceful patch of Queen Anne's lace. The variety and depth of the colors are remarkable. Take at least an hour to do this drive justice. Beeville is about an hour northwest of Corpus, 11/2 hours southeast of San Antonio. (To page 130)

Wilson County

Less than an hour south of San Antonio, a sea of blooms washes over the land. It rolls and crests and flows from yellow to blue, fuchsia to scarlet, lavender to sugar, then back again as the color plays in a pool of ripening spring sunlight. Farm after farm, field after field, it is endless and endlessly fascinating.

Here's a route we particularly liked. It starts in the charming county seat of Floresville by its 1884 courthouse. Take U.S. 181 from town to State 97 East, which is lined by remarkable fields ablaze with flowers and alive with grazing cattle. From State 97 take Farm Road 539, which moves east toward the ruins of the old town of Sutherland Springs. Bluebonnets march alongside as you motor through thickets of live oaks to the Sutherland Springs cemetery. There, leaning rock walls and aged tombstones are punctuated by eruptions of flowers in the middle of great, good peace. Then loop back to Floresville on U.S. 87, which will take you along fields of coreopsis as yellow and rich as churned butter. Plan on about 45 minutes for this stunning drive.

DeWitt County

Knee-deep blankets of wonder cover these lumpy green hills like the best Oriental rugs. The colors are bold and subtle, hot and cool, mixing with an abandon that refreshes and relaxes the eye. DeWitt County offers a beauty that's unmistakably Texan. Even last fall's devastating floods won't keep the wildflowersor the spirits-of this area down.

DeWitt County (about 1 hours east of San Antonio, 2 hours north of Corpus Christi) has developed a number of drives that radiate out from Cuero, the county seat. One of my favorites takes you on Farm Road 766, which rumbles over the Guadalupe River. Turn left on Farm Road 953, left on Hartman Road, and then back to Cuero on State 72 West. Along the way you'll see country churches and little settlements from another century.