Latest news with #DeLong-Amaya
Axios
21-03-2025
- Climate
- Axios
Expect a strong bluebonnet season in Houston
It's bluebonnet blooming season, and the Houston area — unlike much of the state — is expected to put on a solid show. Driving the season: We had plenty of rainfall last year, setting the stage for a vibrant early wildflower bloom. But areas like Central Texas and Western Texas that have faced a drier year and ongoing drought conditions will probably have sparser fields of bluebonnets and Texas paintbrushes, according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. What they're saying:"If predicting the weather is a challenge, then predicting the wildflower bloom for a big state like Texas is even more of a challenge," Andrea DeLong-Amaya, the Wildflower Center's horticulture director, said in this year's wildflower report. "With fluctuations in weather and micro-climate scenarios (where one small geographical area may have received different weather than others), it's sometimes hard to make a big sweeping prediction. This is one of those years." The big picture: Fall's showers lead to spring flowers. Areas like Brenham and College Station will probably have lots of blooms, DeLong-Amaya expects. In Central Texas, early bloomers are a bit sparse this year — but that leaves more room for later spring and summer flowers to thrive. If spring brings more moisture, expect stronger appearances from late bloomers like firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella) and purple horsemint (Monarda citriodora). The bottom line: You don't have to drive very far to see the spring pizzazz. Just be mindful to avoid trampling the blooms, so others can enjoy them, too. If you go: Houston Botanic Garden, Buffalo Bayou, Memorial Park and White Oak Bayou inside the loop should have wildflowers popping up soon.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Wildflower Center releases spring flower forecast
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center released its annual spring wildflower forecast Tuesday morning. The wildflower forecast for spring 2025 is rather 'mixed' depending on what part of Texas you live and what level of drought you're dealing with. Here in Central Texas our drought worsened significantly in the fall of last year and continued an overall worsening trend in much of this winter season. Parts of the state that are suffering most from drought may not have the best bloom of wildflowers this year, according to Andrea DeLong-Amaya, the horticulture director at the Wildflower Center. Whereas eastern parts of Texas, where rain has been more plentiful, are already showing signs of a solid spring bloom. She expects that the drought that worsened significantly last fall may limit the number of germinating plants this spring, even though recent rains will help those that did germinate. This potentially impacts the early spring bloomers more so than the later season flowers, which will have more space to flourish later in the season and into summer. According to DeLong-Amaya, 'the late fall drought will likely hinder this year's early-blooming wildflowers such as Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) and Texas paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa) in the western part of the state.' Parts of Central Texas are experiencing similar levels of drought as the western part of the state and may find a similarly underwhelming spring wildflower season. However, some KXAN viewers have reported sightings of the Texas bluebonnets coming late in January before our most recent frozen and wintry weather. Watch KXAN at 4pm today as we welcome Andrea DeLong-Amaya for a live interview. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
