AUSTIN, Texas — As the cold temperatures and winter says its goodbyes, Texans can look forward to the flowers blooming to prepare for the spring. Although, this wildflower season may not be as exciting as others, according to the experts.

And what’s to blame? The weather. Amid droughts and fire warnings, West Texas may be in trouble.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin has released its annual wildflower forecast and predicts it will be “a mixed season for spring blooms this year due to the continuing drought in the Edwards Plateau and Trans Pecos.”

“If predicting the weather is a challenge, then predicting the wildflower bloom for a big state like Texas is even more of a challenge,” says Andrea DeLong-Amaya, the Wildflower Center’s horticulture director. “With fluctuations in weather and micro-climate scenarios (where one small geographical area may have received different weather than others), it’s sometimes hard to make a big sweeping prediction. This is one of those years.”

This means some areas will see more wildflowers than others. This is true for the eastern part of the state where there are already strong showings. Wildflowers have already been spotted in North Texas. 

The center also announced this year’s Wildflower of the Year is Gregg’s mistflower (Conoclinium greggii), an upright perennial with purplish-blue flowers relished by pollinators. The plant reaches up to two-feet tall with the small purplish-blue flowers clustering together to form puffy, cushion-like flower heads.

The drought happening across the West Texas will make seeing the state’s beloved bluebonnet and the Texas paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa) a little harder.

“Last fall’s drought influenced the number of little wildflower plants we have growing out there. I think we’ve had enough precipitation to give them a boost and get them blooming but it’s too late in the game to germinate new seeds which will affect the numbers of plants we have,” said Amaya.