Mother’s Day is just around the corner and if you’re fortunate enough to still have your mom or grandmother in your life why not plan a special trip to honor them this year? We all know flowers and lunch are nice but how about escaping town to visit a place where everything is blooming?

If you and your special honor­ee love wildflowers, plan a trip to Fredricksburg to the nation’s largest wildflower farm. With 200 acres of wildflower fields and more than 1,000 cultivated acres, Wildseed Farms is abun­dant with beauty from March through October. The farm is free to tour daily from 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and their Trial Gar­dens and display gardens are accessible by a 1-mile walking trail that is wheelchair friendly. In addition, there are beautiful sitting areas perfect for a pho­to op! Love butterflies and the plants they find most attractive? The farm has a seasonal garden planted just for that reason.

Started in 1983, the farm was founded by John R. Thomas, a former owner of a turf seeding business who was motivated to plant wildflowers after noticing the demand was ever increas­ing in Texas. Wildflowers were painstakingly planted in rows on large acreage and Thomas and his crew developed machin­ery to plant and harvest the tiny seeds. Today, rows of blooming wildflowers, a garden center, gift shop, winery and beer garden are available for guests 7 days a week.

The garden center is one of the largest in the Texas Hill Country. Visitors can purchase an assort­ment of native Texas annuals, pe­rennials, herbs, tropicals, cactus and succulents. Glazed pottery and Mexican Talavera pottery is also available. Don’t forget to purchase wildflower seeds or seed mixes specially formulated for your planting region before you leave.

For the full story, see the May 6 issue or subscribe online.

By Sonia Duggan • [email protected]