Just as the rose is a symbol of England and cherry blossoms are a symbol for Japan, the bluebonnet is known around the world as a Texas symbol. Even before the Texas legislature, after considering the cotton stalk and the cactus pear named the bluebonnet the official state flower in 1901, the state’s school children learned the legends of the bluebonnet.  One story goes that after a drought led to near starvation, the Comanche people built a fire and sacrificed their most important belongings. A little girl tossed her favorite cornhusk doll, adorned with a blue feather, into the flames. The next morning, the legend goes, the fields were full of blue flowers. 

Another story from the 1700’s claims that a blue-cloaked nun working among the people in New Mexico one day appeared to the Jumano people in Texas. On the last day she appeared to them the fields were suddenly carpeted with blue flowers.  

This time of year, our fields and roadsides are ablaze with these beautiful wildflowers. Thankfully, the Texas Legislature listened to the cadre of Colonial Dames of America who lobbied for the bluebonnet as the state symbol. Without them, we might well be watching each year for the first cotton bolls to open.