The day we visited was overcast but the color on the ground was vibrant and bright.
Wildseed Farms is just outside Fredericksburg. There are over 200 acres of wildflower fields here at its headquarters.
They have over 1000 cultivated acres across Texas.
Over the years it was usually Mother Nature that splashed the countryside with colorful wildflowers.
In 1983 there were few places to purchases wildflower seeds and they were prohibitively expensive.
(They even attempt to match the birds with the flowers here.)
John R. Thomas is the Farms founder and CEO. He knew of the public's love of wildflowers and the demands from landscape contractors and the highway department so he turned his sideline turf seeding business into a full-time wildflower farm.
Today it is the largest working wildseed farm in the U.S.
They produce 88 varieties of wildflower seeds, which are available individually and as regional mixes, specialty mixes or custom blends.
The farm attracts the attention of people all over the country through retail sales, catalog sales and consumer education.
Fields of wildflowers bloom from March through October. You can go on their website to see what is blooming at any time.
Their brochure says they have over 350,000 visitors each year. Seems to me there should be many more than that. What a treat and absolutely free.
The walking trails through the farm encourage visitors to watch the workers as they go about their tasks and to take so many photos that your finger wears out from clicking.
They have benches under shady trees that we took advantage of to sit and marvel at all the flowers.
They have a shop where all the seeds are available to purchase. And the sales people in the shop are so knowledgable they can tell you when to plant your seeds no matter where home is. While I was in there the gentleman was helping a woman from Holland telling her when it would be best to plant them in her country. ( He should have bargained for some tulip bulbs to come his way)
There is a gift shop full of garden accessories and anything and everything with flowers on it.
If you are hungry or thirsty you can drop into the Brewbonnet Biergarten.
If you want a free catalog just log onto www.wildseedfarms.com and they will get one right out to you but if you are able to stop by you can pick one up at the farm.
I was so happy that my planning had worked out and we were there at the height of the bluebonnets (& redbonnets).
Wait.................Leave it to Texas to have red, white and bluebonnets.
Walking through the acres of flowers was a great way to spend a beautiful afternoon in the hill country.
Good thing Walt is patient. My idea of enjoying this beauty is to take a lot of time.