Relaxing in backyard bluebonnets is one way nature can bring calm to our bodies and minds during stressful times. Research shows spending as little as five minutes outside can reduce stress levels. Plus, even viewing scenes of nature reduces fear and anger, and makes you feel better emotionally. 

If your stress levels are low right now, spend time with my backyard bluebonnets to feel even better. If your stress levels are high, or you are depressed, afraid, or angry, sit back and enjoy a little relaxation in my backyard bluebonnets to feel better emotionally. Take your mind off your worries.  

And get a few ideas for how to create time in nature in your own backyard. 

Backyard Meadow | How To Grow Through The Seasons

Growing a rye grass meadow in the backyard is easy and looks good through three seasons of the year in north Texas. See how to begin and to grow a grass meadow with no pesticides, with no fertilizers, and with little supplementary watering. 

The backyard meadow shown is part of a two-acre lot in the countryside outside any city limits in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Where you are located has a major impact on what your yard must look like. City codes regulate yards, and close neighbors in housing subdivisions expect lawns to look uniform. 

Notes From The Country | No. 3

Living in the countryside means getting to enjoy the changes of seasons up close. Every day in the spring is exhilarating with all the new life emerging. Each day something new is noted. Fits and starts of warm days, of cold days, of rainy days, of overcast days, and of BRILLIANT blue sky days make each new bit of green a cause for celebration. 

C E L E B R A T I O N 

for birds and critters 

Wild dewberry vines will provide berries for birds before summer comes. The berries are always small and unappetizing for picking for us, but just right for the birds. An old hollow stump makes a good shelter for country critters. 

Wild Honeysuckle Vine Topiary

French design and inspiration pops up in the most unusual spots. Driving along the country road to my brother's house in farmland Alabama, I spotted a wild honeysuckle vine topiary trained around a fence post. 

Benefits of Native Plant Gardening

With the rise of the American suburb following World War II, owning a home became an attainable American Dream for most middle class Americans. Along with the American suburb came the manicured lawn that over time even became regulated in city codes. Fertilizer, pesticide, and weed-killer became requirements to maintain the "perfect" lawns. Weekly mowing, edging, watering, and treating grasses, flowers, trees, and shrubs are now part of most Americans weekend activities. 

Gone were the naturalized plants and unkempt looking yards that were our grandparents' yards. However, with many major cities imposing water restrictions, homeowners are once again looking to native plants to use in their gardens as a way to need less water. 

Natural Grass Easter Table Setting

Natural blooming prairie grasses grow in our pastures,
along side the roads, and in our yards here in the Texas countryside. 

After blooming for a short time in late Winter to early Spring, their flowers will fade,
and the plants will go dormant to survive the long hot months to come.

Potting Natural Grasses

As Spring awakens and rises from her deep sleep, 

wild blooming flowers appear with their cheery blooms blowing to and fro. 

Hundreds grow in the prairies, woods, pastures, 

EVERYWHERE. 

Some wild flowering grasses have tiny blossoms that are hard to see individually, but cast a faint colorful haze when hundreds grow together in a roadside patch. Hundreds of these flowers grow in the ditches near my drive. 

Hico Antique Show and Wildflowers

A long-time friend invited me to join her 

and a couple of our mutual friends

for a visit to her Texas country house.

The visit included

Hico, Texas Antique Show, April 26-27, 2013
sponsored by Sugar Moon Antiques

and

Texas wildflowers.

The view from the back deck of my friend's country house...

Wildflowers and an antique show...

I couldn't say, "Yes!" fast enough.

The entrance into the Hico Antique Show tent...

Yes, that is part of a genuine Texas windmill.

When I first moved to Texas almost 40 years ago,

I saw working windmills on many farms and ranches

pumping water into tanks for livestock.

Maps and globes draw me...

My globe collection numbers about ten.

This display of white stoneware and brown and white transfer ware 

is just stunning!  Looks better than my house!

I love the shabby white wooden awning...

The metal food covers with handles were in all sizes.

Unfortunately, nothing in this booth was in my price range.

I will just have to be content looking at this photo

over... and over... and over.....

Now, I'm studying it for design elements.

The white impatiens in the brown wooden box 

are the perfect complement to the dishes.

Oh, yes, isn't that framed picture also just perfect?

Every time I look at this vignette, I see something 

not noticed before.

Do you think the background is a drop cloth?

Be still my heart.

Blue and white transfer ware in a metal chest with blue interior...

Lots of old metal items including gears...  

See the blue gear on the table in the background?

The attached tag recommended using it as a candle holder.

The old washboard has truly beautiful wood.

The curved wooden frame is one continuous piece of wood.

I love the patina.

Once again, the vendor's vignettes were so much fun to view.

This show was just beautiful with plants mixed in with the items for sale.

Great styling...

After browsing the antiques in the tent,

we went to antique shops in Hico.

One antique mall of several dealers had great prices.

On to the famous

Hico Homestead Antique Store

Started by the same folks that owned the

Fredericksburg Homestead.

The Hico store now owned by someone else.

One of my favorite things in the Homestead store is this 

old iron horse painted white.

I don't think it came from a carousel.  Those are usually wooden.

I think this was used for children to ride.

You know, drop a nickel in a box for about five minutes' ride...

At the end of the antiquing day in Hico,

we drove through beautiful countryside filled with

wildflowers.

My friend graciously stopped the car for a closer look

at these wild foxgloves native to Texas.

So beautiful...called for a photo shoot 

with one of my new found treasures from Hico...

The pink ruffled-edge cake plate came from the 

antique show under the tent.

An Indian Paintbrush is just opening in the foreground.

This one's color is a soft peach, not the 

more common bright orange.

We had banana nut muffins in the car with us for a snack.

While I was sitting on the ground taking my photos, my friends were leaning

out the car windows taking photos of me ... taking photos.

Cars passing by s-l-o-w-e-d for a look.

Yes, I was the only one walking around in the flowers taking close-ups,

styling with my new little dish and banana nut muffins.

We were all laughing having a great time! 

I waited until I was home to take photos of the other treasures found in Hico.

This soup tureen has no lid, but I like the yellow foxglove and tiny purple flowers.

It is hanging at the end of my kitchen cabinet.

The green and yellow floral planter will hold an eight-inch plant,

but I like this small lavender plant in it for now.

 

Back home, the pink cake plate will be great next Easter.

Two small metal printers' stamps will make wonderful little

cards and clay tags.

Who's up for a road trip May 24-25 to Hico?

Homestead is sponsoring another Antique Fair.

Very likely, many of the vendors who were at the

Sugar Moon Antiques' show 

will return for Homestead's fair.

Maybe a second chance at some of the transfer ware

I passed up in April...

But, for sure, there will be some kind of wildflowers

on the road there and back.

❧

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Please join me at these inspiring linky parties...

Blue Monday @ Smiling Sally

Tuesdays At Our Home @ Our Home Away From Home

Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage

Fabulously Creative Friday @ Jennifer Rizzo

Anything Blue Friday @ The Dedicated House

Featured at

the Scoop @ Cedar Hill Ranch

Texas Bluebonnets

Texas 

Bluebonnets

are wild lupines.
The state flower of Texas is the species
Lupinus texensis.

Bluebonnets are native to Texas and grow wild 

across plains, along the roadsides, in ditches,

in pastures, under mesquite trees...

Texans rejoice each spring when 

the fields of bluebonnets appear.

The Texas highway department, local governments, businesses, and
landowners plant bluebonnet seeds to supplement nature's wild sowing.
All during the year, we talk about how the bluebonnets are progressing.

We track the sightings of blooms with several state websites.
Towns hold festivals and fairs.

Parents plan outings for photos of children and 

dogs in the bluebonnets.

Newspapers and websites post the most beautiful photos

of fields of bluebonnets 

and bluebonnets with children and dogs.

We pick them and put them in vases, fruit jars, crocks, metal buckets,...

We gather seeds to plant in the fall.

As annuals, each year's crop depends on the germination of seeds
the previous fall and on rainfall at crucial times during fall and winter.
Bluebonnets bloom for about three weeks in the spring.
See the bright magenta centers on some blooms?
And bright white centers on other blooms?
Why the difference?

Blooms are fertile about six days.
The center of the bloom changes from white to magenta
when the bloom is no longer fertile.

I love bluebonnets.
They are one of the highlights of my life every year.

Right up there with my love for Paris
and all things blue...

The hot dry Texas summers sizzle.
Flowers stop blooming, grass turns brown, and trees are dusty grey-green.

But in mid-March to mid-April each year,
bluebonnets are lush,
giving joy to all who see them,
filling acres and acres with their beauty.

Every spring, the Great Spirit remembers my sacrifice 

and covers Texas with the beautiful blue flowers. 

The flowers are called bluebonnets.

quote from

The Legend of the Bluebonnet
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I'm joining these inspiring linking parties...
the Scoop @ Cedar Hill Ranch
 Wow us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Fabulously Creative Friday @ Jennifer Rizzo
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Home Sweet Home @The Charm of Home
Blue Monday @ Smiling Sally
Anything Blue Friday @ The Dedicated House