Blue Truck, Red State: Bluebonnets

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Bluebonnets

The state flower of Texas, in case you didn't know.

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4 comments:

Frank said...: You have a very nice garden! (grin) Those look like what we call lupines and according to google they are a variety of lupine. We used to eat lupini beans at grandma's house when we were kids. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin_bean) Now see what you've started. There's a whole story grandma used to tell about why lupini beans are bitter. It involves the Virgin Mary. But I'll save that for another time.; May 24, 2022 at 9:27 AM
Russ Manley said...: Glad you like. The bluebonnets bloom around the first of May where we are and a few may still be in bloom in the rural parts. It's a mighty purty sight when they carpet a whole field or hillside.

I never heard of the lupines but I see on WP both they and bluebonnets are members of genus Lupinus, which explains the similarity. Most interesting.; May 24, 2022 at 8:49 PM
Frank said...: I planted a very colorful yellow/magenta variety from the greenhouse but sadly they did not make it through the winter (cannot be the cold as they grow in New England) maybe the soil which is very poor here.; May 25, 2022 at 7:02 AM
Russ Manley said...: Ooh, that sounds very pretty. I did not know until I looked it up that Lupinus came in so many varieties. M.P. did - he is the Head Gardener here and has been very busy lately setting out all sorts of flowers and herbs, new and old.

P.S. - I would love to hear your grandmother's story about the lupin nuts. Why don't you make a blog post of it sometime?; May 25, 2022 at 7:57 AM