Be Wowed by Wildflowers at Texas State Parks

Be Wowed by Wildflowers at Texas State Parks

March 20, 2026

Media Contact: TPWD News, Business Hours, 512-389-8030

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AUSTIN - Spring has sprung and the wildflowers across Texas are beginning to bloom! One of the best, and safest spots to view the state's various native beauties is in Texas State Parks. Choose one of more than 85 parks to take your family photos amongst this year's blooms away from busy roadways.

Try not to step on the flowers so they return next year and resist the urge to take one home with you so others can enjoy themselves. Leave no trace but enjoy the space!

Hill Country: The rolling upland hillsides, canyons, and creek and river bottoms are providing a colorful and teeming wildflower wave layered with bluebonnets, Engelmann's daisy, Texas star, blue sage, Indian blanket, Mexican hat, prairie fleabane and verbena, alongside wine cups. In addition, perfume balls, phlox, Missouri primrose, white heliotrope, antelope horn milkweed, sundrops, Drummond's skullcap, Blackfoot daisy, foxglove and Lindheimer's paintbrush can be found. Visit Colorado Bend, Lyndon B. Johnson, Guadalupe River, McKinney Falls and Garner State Parks to view any of the above, along with Enchanted Rock or Lost Maples State Natural Areas.

The Hill Country canyon woodland ground flora is draped with Texas silver puff, rock lettuce, false dayflower ('widows tears'), plateau spiderwort, baby blue eyes, red columbine, Texas milkweed, blue curls and roundleaf groundsel. Visit Government Canyon State Natural Area to see these beauties.

Gulf Coast: A wide array of wildflowers are on display including prairie nymph, prairie clovers, betony-leaf mistflower, Indian blanket, silverleaf sunflower, seaside goldenrod, showy nerveray and erect dayflower. Other flowers that can be found include the Texas groundsel, woolly whites, longbract wild indigo, coralbean, Rio Grande greenthread, Gulf Coast Camphor daisy, saltmarsh mallow, beach morning glory, and side-cluster milkweed. Visit Mustang Island, Goose Island, Galveston Island or Sea Rim State Parks to see these stunners.

East Texas: The Pineywoods' hardwood slopes and bottomland forest flora has been extraordinary with a plethora of wildflowers including trout lilies, trilliums, Solomon's seal, mayapple, partridge-berry and golden Alexanders. Violets, purple meadow-rue, groundsels, Carolina vetch, wisteria, flowering dogwood, yellow jasmine, crossvine, jack-in-the-pulpits, Virginia sweetspire, hawthorns, white-flowered milkweed, azalea, fringe tree and silver bells are also starting to show off.

Wetlands are profuse with spider lily, bluestar, spring cress, Canada garlic, and blue iris. Old plainsmen dominate upland and wetland pine savannas, Carolina pucoon, yellow colic-root, candy root, prairie snoutbean, Queens's delight, sundews, silky prairie clover, meadow pink, false dragonhead, downy phlox, rose vervain, spiderworts, Carolina larkspur, bull nettle and toad flax. Try to find them all at Daingerfield, Caddo Lake, Misson Tejas, Village Creek or other State Parks in the area.

Prairies and Lakes: The landscape is teeming with Indian paintbrushes, brown eyed Susan, winecup, American basket flower, Barbara's buttons, American wild carrot, showy evening primrose, plantain and Texas prairie parsley. Other plants starting to be seen include fleabane, prairie clovers, blue-eyed grass, buttercups, snakeherb, butterfly weed, false dragon-head, sundrops, beeblossum, Texas skeleton plant, larkspur, coneflowers, blue mealy sage, wild indigo and overwhelming numbers of green milkweeds. With 20 state parks in this region, there's plenty of places to try your hand at some wildflower spotting. Check out Dinosaur Valley, Cleburne, or Fort Parker State Parks, to name a few.

Panhandle Plains: Up in the high plains of the state, visitors can find winecups, purple coneflower, the Englemann and Blackfoot daisy, Missouri evening primrose, pink plains penstemon, mealy sage, copper-mallow, Indian blanket, Texas bluebonnet, Tahoka daisy and prairie verbena. Travel to Palo Duro Canyon, Caprock Canyons or Copper Breaks State Parks to see these wildflowers among the waving grasslands.

Big Bend Country: The lower Big Bend wildflower displays are accumulating and include Big Bend bluebonnet, wholeleaf Indian paintbrush, rock penstemon, several crinklemat species, rigid paintbrush, yellow rocknettle, yerba raton, dogweed, paperflower and shrubby skeleton-leaf goldeneye. Twin-leaf senna, limoncillo, several species of salvias, purple wooly locoweed, ocotillo, lechuguilla, fragrant yellow huisache, cenizo, and yuccas are on display at Big Bend Ranch, Seminole Canyon and Davis Mountains State Parks. Orange poppies, purple lyreleaf jewelflower and feather dalea are seen at Franklin Mountains State Park as well. At Balmorhea State Park, you can find many of the above along with the Texas bluebell, chocolate daisy and blooming desert willows.

Wildflower enthusiasts can sport the Bluebonnet conservation license plate, and support Texas State Parks all year. Proceeds from license plate purchases go to enhance the visitor experience, including supporting educational interpretive programming and conservation efforts at state parks. To buy the bluebonnet or one of the other seven designs available, visit https://www.conservationplate.org/stateparks or your local county tax assessor-collector's office. Buyers do not have to wait until they receive renewal notice, they can order at any time and the cost will be pro-rated. All conservation plates are available for cars, trucks, motorcycles, trailers and RVs.

For more information, visit the Texas State Parks website at TexasStateParks.org.