IN BLOOM

THANKS to the Dallas Park and Recreation Department, it’s almost impossible to miss the wildflower season. Some of spring’s best flowerscapes include Moss Park off Fair Oaks (along the 8100 block of Arborside); the east courtyard of Dealey Park (at 6501 Royal Lane, west of Hillcrest); medians along Hillcrest (between Forest and LBJ); and the junction of Greenville at Pineland (south of Walnut Hill). Also: the Trinity River bottoms and the Airdrome Triangle (Lemmon and Mockingbird).

Although bluebonnets peak around the third week of April, other wildflowers-thistles, Indian paintbrushes, and larkspur-thrive through later spring. The Audubon Society of Dallas County recommends the campuses of Dallas Baptist University and Mountain View College for finding more unusual varieties such as blue-eyed grasses and pink-evening primrose. Texas Plume Road (off Hwy. 67 near Joe Pool Lake) is a good route for viewing the tall, red, and spiky Texas Plume.

Horticulturist Neil Sper-ry and Jack Lewis, photographer for Texas Highways magazine, told us their fe-vorite flower safaris:

Half-day: Bristol and Kilmer, towns just south of Dallas, offer rolling hills of bluebonnets and paintbrushes. Northeast of Dallas, about eighteen miles from Jefferson, the triangle of towns formed by Linden, Hughes Springs, and Avinger feature some unusual wildflowers that are at their best in May

Full-day: the Brenham area, outside of Houston, is the best in Texas for flower watching, But don’t neglect the hill country, west of Austin, or the colorful triangle, west of Waco, formed by Clifton, Valley Mills, and Lake Whitney.