By Steve Elliott
Editor

You know its springtime in Texas when the roadsides and fields explode with color, and families are pulling over to pose their adorable little ones in the midst of the buttercups, bluebonnets, pink ladies, and red Indian paint rushes.

There’s a variety of ways to enjoy the spring colors, whether you take to the road, or stay in your own backyard.

The Texas Heritage Trails Program is based around 10 scenic driving trails created in 1968 by Gov. John Connally and the Texas Highway Department as a marketing tool. The trails were established in conjunction with the HemisFair, the international exposition that commemorated the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio. From the Texas Forest Trail Region with its blaze of crimson clovers and wild azaleas, to the Texas Mountain Trail Region’s Blackfoot daisy, each heritage region has its own unique palette of wildflowers to enjoy.

The heritage regions are all part of the Texas Heritage Commission’s regional tourism initiative, the Texas Heritage Trails Program. The award-winning program encourages people to venture out and rediscover the state’s historic and cultural wonders. This successful program capitalizes on the economic impact of heritage tourism –– a $2.7 billion a year industry.

For free heritage trail brochures call (866)276-6219 or visit www.thc.state.tx.us/travel. For additional information on Texas travel events and vacation destinations, visit www.TravelTex.com or for a free Texas State Travel Guide call 1-800-8888-TEX.

Now while a road trip can be great fun, maybe you don’t really feel like schlepping down the highway with a minivan full of little darlings, or dodging cars to get to the median where you saw that perfect patch of bluebonnets, or maybe you just want a more relaxing way to spend your day!

“Sometimes people forget about the 33-acre botanical gem that is right in our own backyard,” said Paul Cox, assistant superintendent at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. “The Garden has a wildflower meadow that is in full bloom, with all the flowers that adorn our Texas Hill Country...but without the gas mileage and time incurred to drive out of town.”

“Right now, there are plenty of photo opportunities available for wildflower lovers,” Cox said. “We have plenty of bluebonnets, of course. There’s also scarlet flax, which are a bright red plant that that has almost a metallic sheen in the sunlight. There are also the not-so-common wildflowers like foxglove and Blackfoot daisy.”

There are other bonuses to making the Botanical Garden your photographic destination. Visitors can also enjoy all the other areas of the Garden, including the Lucile Halsell Conservatory, the Garden for the Blind, Kumamoto En (an authentic Japanese Garden), and the newly-renovated Texas Native Trail with its three distinct pathways of extensive native collections representing the Hill Country, East Texas Pineywoods and South Texas Plains.

“It’s also a lot safer and less noisy than pulling over on the side of the road for a photo shoot,” Cox said. “We just ask that people pose next to the wildflowers rather than on top of them, so everybody will be able to enjoy them for the whole season.”

Another good reason to go to the Garden is that visitors can bring a picnic lunch (but no glass items, alcohol or cooking devices such as barbecue pits). There are picnic benches throughout the park, but visitors can bring their own lawn chairs.

Admission to the Garden is $6 for adults, $3 for children ages 3 to 13, $4 for senior citizens and $4 for military and students with proper identification. Group rates are available for groups of 15 or more.

For more information about the Texas Heritage Trail Program, click on www.thc.state.tx.us/heritagetourism/htprogram.html. For the San Antonio Botanical Garden, call 207-3250 or go to www.sabot.org.