{"id":329,"date":"2013-05-30T18:51:39","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T23:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polarisstarfarm.com\/adventures\/?p=329"},"modified":"2013-05-30T18:51:39","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T23:51:39","slug":"nature-101-legacy-of-lady-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.polarisstarfarm.com\/adventures\/2013\/05\/30\/nature-101-legacy-of-lady-bird\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature 101: Legacy of Lady Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Texas<\/a>

Texas Bluebonnet – state flower<\/p><\/div>\n

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Spring and Summer is wildflower season in Texas.\u00a0 Wildflowers are found on our busiest highways\u00a0 and the loneliest back roads.\u00a0 Texans love their wildflowers so much that we have wildflower trails <\/a>and even Bluebonnet specific touring trails<\/a>.\u00a0 We even spend money for official road signs that mark wildflowers trails.\u00a0 Nearly every store with a gardening section will have special Texas wildflower seed packets for sale.<\/p>\n

Bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas, are especially popular with both Texans and visitors.\u00a0 In April, before the grass gets too tall and drowns the color of the flowers,\u00a0there are seas of Bluebonnets waving their heads in the breeze.<\/p>\n

During peak Bluebonnet season, you can find cars lined up on the shoulders of even the busiest of highways, with people taking family photos surrounded by a Bluebonnet ocean.\u00a0 These days you even see family pet portraits with Bluebonnet backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Texas, I learned early that the reason we had such beautiful flowers growing on the sides of our roads was because of\u00a0a special woman.\u00a0 Lady Bird Johnson did a lot of work to make sure that wildflower seeds were planted every year.<\/p>\n

Back then I didn’t know\u00a0exactly what Lady Bird did to make sure we had pretty flowers, just that she was the reason for the pretty flowers.\u00a0 But I knew she was special because she had been a First Lady and she was from Texas.\u00a0 Not only was she from Texas, but Lady Bird grew up where I lived.\u00a0\u00a0To a kid, that’s a pretty cool thing.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0got to meet Lady Bird Johnson when I was about 6 or 7, while on a school\u00a0field trip.\u00a0 It was a dedication for\u00a0a historical marker in Jefferson, Texas.\u00a0 I don’t remember what her speech was about or even what the historical marker was commemorating, but meeting her was\u00a0something I’ve never forgotten.\u00a0 It was very exciting that such a celebrity would meet with “normal” folks while TV cameras were rolling.\n\t\t