Yard boasts a 'mutant' bluebonnet

A liberal dose

March 22, 2008

COLLEYVILLE -- Angela Fife doesn't have a secret, or if she does she's not sharing it.

The 4-foot-wide plant that has 20 Texas bluebonnet blossoms grew on its own in a flower bed she tends behind the Colleyville home of George Jackson, 90, for whom Fife is a caregiver. The single plant, somehow, bloomed through the winter and even survived this month's two snow storms.

'This is a regular bluebonnet,' said Fife, 46, as she pointed to a nearby flower that seemed puny in comparison. But then she turned her attention to her pride and joy. 'This is my mutant.'

Jerry Parsons, a specialist in bluebonnets and a professor of horticulture at Texas A&M University, correctly guessed that the plant was on the south side of the house, where it would experience a milder winter.

The phenomenon -- where a plant splits into several stems -- is called fasciation, where the plant is damaged and grows to appear that several stems are fused together. Parsons said he has tried to breed bluebonnets that consistently do this, to no avail.

'It will only get prettier,' Parsons said. 'You should see it when it gets into full bloom.'

Jackson mostly just looks at the flowers at his Garry Lynne Drive home. A retired inspector for an engineering firm, he prefers to supervise.

'That's what I'm good at,' he said.

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