AUSTIN (KXAN) — Amid ongoing drought conditions in Central Texas and miniscule rain levels last fall, Central Texans aren’t likely to see the same picturesque bluebonnets this wildflower season, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center confirmed in its 2025 wildflower forecast.
“If predicting the weather is a challenge, then predicting the wildflower bloom for a big state like Texas is even more of a challenge,” said Andrea DeLong-Amaya, Wildflower Center horticulture director, in the late February forecast release. “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.”
Center experts said bluebonnets statewide will be spotty this year, with the best blooms poised to sprout in east Texas due to higher rainfall levels. Looking toward Central Texas and westward, those regions will have “mixed blooms” this season, a spokesperson for the wildflower center told KXAN.
“Bluebonnet seeds germinate in the fall and the plants grow all winter, then bloom in the spring,” the spokesperson said. “So, to insure plenty of spring blooms, the plants need plenty of water.”
However, Central Texans don’t necessarily need to road trip out east to bask in fields of bluebonnets. The wildflower center is home to dedicated beds of bluebonnets that “have had a little extra irrigation to make sure that they bloom,” the spokesperson noted.
Alongside bluebonnets, Texas paintbrush wildflowers will also likely be impacted by the drought, the forecast confirmed. While that means spring blooms will be more limited, experts said those sparse flowers could leave “more room to flourish” for the late spring and summer flowers, like firewheels and purple horsemints — so long as the springtime brings wetter weather.
The full 2025 wildflower forecast is available online.
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