POPS OF COLOR AND MORE

One local attraction has helped share the wildflower-laden beauty of the Hill Country with the rest of the nation.

Wildseed Farms has served as ground zero for the development and export of this beauty around the state and beyond.

The flower-filled business, located on U.S. 290 East at 100 Legacy Drive, is home to the largest family-owned wildflower farm in the United States. More than 200 acres at its headquarters are filled with color year-round as blooms beautify the roadside attraction. And the company has more than 1,000 acres of cultivated fields around the state.

With a recent addition of grapes, Wildseed Farms now represents one of the Hill Country’s largest growers of that crop, too, filling a huge need for locally grown grapes to service wineries.

Founder John R. Thomas has won local, state and national recognition for his contributions to land conservation and beautification.

The store specializes in seeds for native plants that make the Hill Country pop year-round with color, but it also offers an assortment of other retail items.

The farm offers weekly live music on Saturdays at its Brewbonnet Biergarten.

Upcoming events include Fall Planting Days Kick-Off (Sept. 10-12) and the annual Monarch Celebration (Oct. 9). See the website for more details.

Wildseed Farms draws more than 400,000 visitors each year. One popular attraction, of course, are the spring bluebonnets and other wildflowers. — Standard-Radio Post file photo

FARM OFFERINGS

Visitors can explore walking trails, watch the farm staff work and take photos. In Pick Your Own fields, visitors can create custom bouquets. This is seasonal and may not always be available.

Areas of interest at Wildseed are Blossom’s Boutique, Lantana’s Nursery, the biergarten and The Meadows walking trail.

Wildseed Farms has opened its own tasting room on-site, carrying a variety of local Texas wines.

Plant and flower lovers can order seeds of individual species, regional mixes, varieties of cosmos, zinnias and sunflowers, along with native grasses and culinary herbs. There are also garden products and specialty foods. Its catalog features over 90 varieties of wildflowers, grasses, herbs and exotic garden variety seeds.

The farm offers a complimentary seed catalog to each visitor. The publication also offers helpful planting tips and how-to’s.

Outside the store can be found one of the Hill Country’s largest selections of live plants, many featured in the farm’s own colorful landscape, and vibrant imported pottery. Staff members are always on hand to make suggestions and help shoppers.

WILDSEED FARMS

1-800-848-0078

Hours 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. daily

www.wildseedfarms.com