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Texas Maroon at the A&M Gardens in 2021
A FACEBOOK POST By Dr. Dan Lineberger, Professor and Department Head
Department of Horticultural Sciences, RETIRED 2021
Dan Lineberger
March 30 at 5:13 PM
I wanted to give a shout-out to Drs. Jerry M. Parsons and Larry Stein, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Professor & Professor Emeritus (Parsons) for their continued work to maintain and improve on our Texas native wildflower. The maroon, red, royal blue, lavender and other colors of the Texas bluebonnet would have reverted back to the blue long ago had it not been for their diligence in keeping the colors separated to minimize cross pollination by the indiscriminate foraging of the bees! Also a "hats off" to John Thomas, owner of Wildseed Farms (http://wildseedfarms.com) in Stonewall, Texas, who supported, encouraged (and tolerated) Jerry and Larry for over 30 years in this effort.
— with Jerry M. Parsons.
Comments
Katy Clarke
I love these! 👍🏻
Margit Burkhart Beasley
I'd love to get enough to cover my back acre
Steve Hoffman
That’s very impressive!
Wayne Pianta
Yes! Great recognition of major contributors to Horticulture in the state.
Paula Whiteley Bernard
I did not know that they had developed so many colors. Are their seeds to buy? Dan can we grow lupines like in New Zealand in Texas?
Doris Snyder
BEAUTIFUL!
Katy Clarke
I love these! 👍🏻
Margit Burkhart Beasley
I'd love to get enough to cover my back acre
Steve Hoffman
That’s very impressive!
Wayne Pianta
Yes! Great recognition of major contributors to Horticulture in the state.
Paula Whiteley Bernard
I did not know that they had developed so many colors. Are their seeds to buy? Dan can we grow lupines like in New Zealand in Texas?
Doris Snyder
BEAUTIFUL!
LINEBERGER RESPONSE:
YOU know there would NEVER have been maroon, lavender, purple, royal blue, and red bluebonnets without you, Greg, Stein, John Thomas, the Verstratens, the Verstuyfts, Moerbes of LaPryor and others who tolerated your antics! I’m so blessed to have been a small part in the story.
The photo I posted was from a single cluster of reds planted at The TAMU Leach Teaching Gardens this spring, which is a place chock full of many of your selections with a whole section devoted to the Texas Superstars.
First assignment was easy, since the pictures were fresh in my mind. Photos were taken with an iPhone 11 Pro Max. I only mention that because I’m finding I get BETTER photos with that than I do with my fancy-smancy Nikon full frame digital camera that cost $3,000 and I ALWAYS have it in my pocket. Lighting was PERFECT when I took the photos. Anyway…
Next part of the assignment will take a while as I have THOUSANDS of photos of the improved bluebonnets and even though I have ALL my hard drives at home with me now, I’ll need some time to pull them together. I even have many of the ones we took of the Texas flag at Wildseed Farms in digital form, since I had a student worker scan a bunch of my best/favorite slides 8 or 10 years ago. But, I promise, I’ll work on it!
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