Wildflowers take the spotlight at Wildseed Farms
The stretch of U.S. 290 running between Fredericksburg and Johnson City has in recent years earned the nickname Wine Road 290 for the close to 100 wineries that lure tourists taking tasting trips.
But there’s another, more colorful attraction along that highway, as well. It’s Wildseed Farms, the largest wildflower farm in the United States located 8 miles east of Fredericksburg.
When the weather cooperates, it’s also one of the most breathtakingly beautiful sites in the state — a rainbow carpet covering about 400 acres that makes for picture-perfect Instagram backgrounds.
With another 650 acres in Colorado County west of Houston, Wildseed Farms grows 36 varieties of wildflowers and harvests more than 100,000 pounds of seeds annually. Between one-third and half of that total are bluebonnet seeds, making Wildseed the largest grower of bluebonnets in the world.
The seeds — and more — are sold in the gift shop at the Fredericksburg location.
Wildseed Farms was founded in 1983 by John R. Thomas, who remains president and owner of the ever-expanding company. One way the company has revolutionized the cultivation of wildflowers was his development of a seed retriever that used a vacuum to suck seeds from blooms without destroying the plant. This allows seeds to be harvested several times throughout the growing season.
“Wildflowers are indeterminate, meaning they don’t all mature at the same time, like a crop of wheat,” said Thomas. “So you can go back and harvest multiple times.”
Over the years, Wildseed has grown and diversified, making it one of the most popular tourist spots on Wine Road 290. In addition to seeds, the gift shop sells gift and home décor items, there’s a deli that sells sandwiches, snacks, ice cream and more, and the plant nursery is one of the largest in Central Texas.
Wildseed has also joined its grape-growing neighbors and, two years ago, after years of selling several varieties of grapes to other wineries, began bottling its own line under the Wildseed Farms Vineyard label. There’s also a tasting room, so guests can to give the final product a try.
“We have 42 acres of vines,” Thomas said. We’re the thirdlargest grape grower in the county.”
And while most wildflowers bloom in spring, Wildseed Farms offers a little more. In about two weeks, the farm will be a profusion of color as zinnias, cosmos, tulips, lavender, poppies and ornamental sunflowers planted along the many walking paths begin to bloom.