First times
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (64169)
United States
April 2, 2010 4:21pm CST
I was talking to the roommate earlier this week and she mentioned that she had never seen a blue bonnet before.
For those who don't know, the blue bonnet is the state flower of Texas.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/flowers/bluebonnet/bluebonnetstory.html
So, on my way home from work on Wednesday, I stopped at the field next to my client's place and picked a blue bonnet.
Now, there's like a "myth" that its illegal to pick blue bonnets, but that's what it is, a myth. It is illegal to pick ANY wildflower from the side of the highways,
So, I walk in and take the flower directly to her and hold it out.
She looks at it and says "Ragweed." (remember, she's totally color blind so she can't see that its blue.)
I laughed and said. "No, that's a blue bonnet."
"Its illegal to pick a blue bonnet," she said.
"No its not, I picked it on private property, so its a perfectly legally picked blue bonnet."
So, that's how my 49 yr old, blind roommate saw her first blue bonnet. She even took a sniff after I told her it won't make her sneeze - and it didn't!
So, do you remember the first time you saw something? Did you know about blue bonnets? Is there a state, or national flower where you are from?
5 people like this
13 responses
@palonghorn (5479)
• United States
3 Apr 10
Yes I know all about bluebonnets, and I also knew the myth about picking them. I used to have a small patch that came up in my yard every year, and I always mowed around them, because I like them. In just the past few years, I saw plenty of things for the first time, living in Pennsylvania! I saw my first chipmunk, scared the heck outta me, thought it was a rat the first time lol, I saw my first groundhog......yes Phil is alive and well in Pa! I remember the first time I saw a horse and buggy, on the highway! Yes, the Amish still travel that way, and use draft horses for plowing! It was all very interesting. I fell in love with the fall colors up there too, you don't see that here in my part of Texas. And I saw more anthracite coal than I care to see ever again...I had a coal burner (our heat) in the house in Pennsylvania.
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
3 Apr 10
I had a friend teaching up there in Amish country and she said the town had hitching posts for them to tie up at in town.
I seem to vaguely remember seeing a horse and buggy when we drove across PA on our drive from NJ to Indiana - but I was pretty young then...
1 person likes this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
4 Apr 10
DANG, Palonghorn! Now you've made me "homesick"* for the mountains of West PA! How I love that area! I wish I knew someone there now, just to chat!
Sigh...
* I wasn't native to PA, but I loved it much more than any place (outside England) that I've ever been!
Maggiepie
2012--CHANGE WE CAN really BELIEVE IN!
* I wasn't native to PA, but I loved it much more than any place (outside England) that I've ever been!
Maggiepie
2012--CHANGE WE CAN really BELIEVE IN!1 person likes this
@Dumpertaker (1187)
•
2 Apr 10
That is amazing about the flower, and no I didn't know about that.
In the UK, the flower for my state (Hasmpshire) I think is the red rose.
1 person likes this
@Dumpertaker (1187)
•
2 Apr 10
I do believe so yes, the opposing side is the Lancashire rose...which is white.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
3 Apr 10
oh isn't that pretty! :)
i'm not sure what our state flower is-i think it's a type of violet.
we have that law here too-they catch you picking on state land you're in big trouble.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
3 Apr 10
they grow in like a little carpet,in between the grass and other flowers,it's really pretty.
1 person likes this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
4 Apr 10
Elic: Remember I told you about the little nest of them I found & picked when I was about 4 for Mom? (Every single one--so of course they never grew there again!) She never knew I found them at the tiny town dump, which was set unobtrusively away from the road to Grandma's, maybe a quarter way to town. They were so beautiful!
I did the same thing to that 3-foot-across mutant patch of 4-leaf clovers I found in Grandma's back yard! It took me a long time to learn why this was a Bad Idea if you wanted plants to return; I just wasn't clear on the cycle of seeds & plants, then. And me growing up on a farm, too! 
Maggiepie
2012--CHANGE WE CAN really BELIEVE IN!
Maggiepie
2012--CHANGE WE CAN really BELIEVE IN!1 person likes this
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
7 Apr 10
Blue bonnets are pretty. I've only seen them in pictures. Not sure if we have them up here. Our state flower is a rose. Not sure which rose. I'll have to ask my friend.
1 person likes this
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
8 Apr 10
I believe ours is the bluebird. Not sure why we're on birds now when we were on flowers.
1 person likes this
@jewelenterprises (1996)
• Australia
3 Apr 10
Here in Australia, every state has it's own floral emblem. The overall floral emblem for the whole of Australia is golden wattle. Here is a list for the others.
Australia: Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha)
ACT (Basically Canberra): Royal Bluebell (Wahlenbergia gloriosa)
New South Wales: Waratah (Telopea speciosissima)
Northern Territory: Sturt’s Desert Rose (Gossipium sturtianum)
Queensland: Cooktown Orchid (Dendrobium phalaenopsis)
South Australia: Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsonia formosa)
Tasmania: Tasmanian Bluegum (Eucalyptus globulus)
Victoria: Common Heath (Epacris impressa)
Western Australia: Red & Green Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii)
1 person likes this
@jewelenterprises (1996)
• Australia
4 Apr 10
I visited the US in 1997 and I think it was the similarities as much as the differences that were odd. On the way to Santa Cruz from SF airport we were driving through open country, with all the trees and fields etc and I saw a bird wheeling over one the fields. It looked like anything I would see travelling through similar countryside here in Australia... until the bird got close enough to see and I realized it was an eagle. Seemed out of place somehow, though of course it wasn't.
Another one that got me was that I saw what I thought was a dragonfly buzzing near a flower... until my friend pointed out that it was actually a hummingbird. I got close enough to have a look and was astounded by just how small it was, you could hear it's little wings buzzing, they were moving so fast.
Another cute thing I saw was a little squirrel that came down from a tree and started drinking from my friends pool... it was reaching so far down to the water that I thought it was gonna fall in
2 people like this
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
4 Apr 10
Jewel: Does Australia not have eagles? I presume New Zealand does, as just yesterday I saw one depicted on a NZ stamp...it was a soft brown. Just by the way, NZ has almost got the market cornered (in my opinion) on exquisitely beautiful stamps!
Maggiepie
2012--CHANGE WE CAN really BELIEVE IN!
1 person likes this
@cream97 (29085)
• United States
8 Apr 10
Hi, ElicBxn. I think that I have heard of the Blue Bonnet. I know that there is a butter called this. I am from The Palmetto state in South Carolina. I think that I have seen the Blue Bonnet before too. I am glad that your roommate got the chance to see the Blue Bonnet for herself too.
1 person likes this
@bellis716 (4799)
• United States
3 Apr 10
Blue is the original bluebonnet color. White and pink ones began to appear. Some horticulturalist decided that we needed a red bluebonnet so that we could plant an American flag out of bluebonnets, or maybe it was another reason. Anyway he worked for about 10 years and developed a maroon bluebonnet. I now have both blue and maroon bluebonnets growing on the west side of my house. There are blue, white and pink bluebonnets growing wild on the roadside about 3/4 mile from my house. I don't think the pink bluebonnets nearly as pretty as the blue ones, but they seem to be more prolific, at least in that particular location.
1 person likes this
@Wizzywig (7847)
•
3 Apr 10
My knowledge of bluebonnets is pretty much confined to the Nanci Griffith song "Gulf Coast Highway" which never fails to make me cry when I hear it. I'm just moved by the idea of catching a blackbirds wing and flying away to Heaven...
thanks for posting a link to a picture... yes, they do look like lupins dont they - I always assumed they were a variation of bluebells. I've no idea if we have a flower emblem in my area so I'll have to check that out.
1 person likes this
@cerebellum (3863)
• United States
3 Apr 10
The picture of the flower looks familiar, but I'm not sure what it's called. I can't tell a flower from a weed. As long as there is a bloom, to me it's a flower. I know dandelions are weeds and that's it. When we bought a new home I had to have a friend tell me what things to pull and what to leave.
We have a state flower (PA), but I forget what it is.
Is it illegal to pick any wildflowers all over the country? I have seen some plants growing on the side of the road that I have near my mailbox. I wonder if they were transplanted from the side of the road.