Totally Texas -- Go east, for Tyler Azalea Trail

As sure as bluebonnets are blue, every spring azaleas deck parks and gardens in the eastern third of Texas with shades of pink. (And red, white, purple, even the occasional yellow and orange.) These evergreen shrubs love the mild weather and acidic soil of East Texas, and each year the city of Tyler hosts a festival to show off its public and private azalea displays.

The 2013 Azalea and Spring Flower Trail opens today, March 15, and extends through April 7. Outdoor flowers being capricious creatures, I drove to Tyler last Tuesday to check on the blooms. Along most of the mapped eight-mile trail, azaleas were just starting to open, and a few days of this warm weather should have brought them out.

I took the picture illustrating this post at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden -- not on the official trail but worth a side trip both for early-blooming azaleas and a gorgeous display of camellias. (Rose bloom is expected to start about April 1, although some antique roses are already flowering.) For Rose Garden information, see www.tylerrosemuseum.com/.

Besides azaleas, Tyler bursts with activities during the annual festival -- home and garden tours, historical tours, and arts and crafts fairs. Blooms on East Texas’ many dogwood trees are also expanding, and nearby Tyler State Park offers a Dogwood Days driving and walking tour to enjoy them.

Of course you’ll take pictures, and there’s a photography contest, with a chance to win cash for your favorites and see them featured on the festival’s Facebook and Flickr sites.

Tyler is located about ninety minutes east of Dallas, a few miles off I-20. The trail begins at the Tyler Convention and Visitors Bureau, 315 N. Broadway, open daily during the festival except on Easter, March 31.

There are actually two routes, the Dobbs Trail and Lindsey Trail, partially overlapping and well marked. For a brochure of activities and trail map, or to download a free azalea blossom screensaver, see www.tylerazaleatrail.com/.

For information about other attractions in and around Tyler during your visit, see
www.tylertexas.com/.

(Next Friday -- a selection of spring festivals around North Central Texas.)

Totally Texas -- Dallas in bloom at Arboretum

Dallas Arboretum

8525 Garland Road

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Easter comes early this year, but not too early for the flowers already primping for the Dallas Arboretum’s annual Dallas Blooms festival. Tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and a host of smaller bloomers carpet the grounds with color. Overhead, cherry blossoms vie with the pink and purple blooms of deciduous magnolias during the festival running Saturday, March 2, through April 7.

While you’re admiring the flower color, take time to appreciate the Arboretum’s other sensory delights. Fountains temporarily stilled to protect last year’s Chihuly glass sculptures are back on full splash. And the perfume of hyacinths, winter honeysuckle, and sweet olive wafts through the gardens.

On my visit yesterday, workers scurried through the grounds, replacing winter flowers in the many large containers with spring blooms, and finishing the Dallas Blooms signature playhouses. This year’s playhouse theme is “Adventures of Great Explorers” -- a child-size Aztec pyramid for Cabeza de Vaca, a Fountain of Youth for Ponce de Leon, and an Asian pagoda for Marco Polo, among others.

Love the Arboretum but can’t afford to go as much as you’d like? Several admission discount options are available during the festival. Visitors age 65 and over get discounts on admission and gift store items on Thursdays. Free garden tours are scheduled for Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 11 a.m. through April 7. The free offer is limited to 20 guests each day. Wednesdays except during spring break (March 13) are also BOGO days -- buy one admission, get one free. Some limits apply, and you’ll need a coupon for the BOGO discount, available at www.dallasarboretum.org/.

You’ll still pay to park, but parking is easier to find, as the Arboretum expands lots adjacent to the garden.

A highlight of the festival is the hanami -- Japanese-style cherry blossom viewing, presented by the Japan-America Society of DFW. Music and family activities are scheduled for Sunday, March 17, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Or come early -- the first trees are already in bloom.

For complete schedule of festival events, discount details and pricing, see
www.dallas.arboretum.org/.

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Want more flower power? I blogged last week about Mrs. Lee’s Daffodil Garden near Gladewater, open through March or until the daffodils stop blooming. See “A host of golden daffodils” and the website, www.daffodilgarden.www.daffodilgarden.com/.

Also in East Texas, Tyler’s Azalea Trail is set for March 15 through April 7. See
www.tylerazaleatrail.com/.

(Next Friday -- spring break staycations in North Texas.)

Totally Texas -- Festivals spring up like flowers

It’s spring in Texas -- and that means bluebonnets and festivals. Here’s a sampling of festivals with leanings toward arts and crafts from my part of North Texas, so you can enjoy yourself outside before the thermometer hits those triple digits. Some events are free, some not, so please check the individual sites for details.

March 23 - April 8. Tyler Azalea and Spring Flower Trail. What bluebonnets are to Central Texas, azaleas are to East Texas. The festival opens with the Azalea Quilt Show 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Friday and Saturday, March 23-24. Harvey Convention Center, 2000 W. Front St., Tyler. See www.qget.org/ and www.tylerazaeleatrailcom/ for additional information and events. (To get to Tyler, take I-20 east from Dallas for about 90 minutes, and follow exit signs. For more Tyler attractions, see posts dated May 9, 2011, and October 10, 2011.)

March 24 - 25, and Saturdays and Sundays through April 24. While you’re in East Texas, Four Winds Renaissance Faire includes handcrafted items along with jousting, jugglers, and more. Highway 110 South, near Tyler between Whitehouse and Troup. See www.fourwindsfaire.com/.

April 1 - 30. Ennis Bluebonnet Trails. We’ve seen the pictures of Hill Country bluebonnets but blooms are not at their peak in North Texas as of this writing. Check www.visitennis.org for updates and mark your calendar for Ennis’s Bluebonnet Trails Festival April 21-22. Ennis is on I-45 south of Dallas, about a 45 minute drive.

April 7 - May 28. Scarborough Renaissance Festival, Saturdays, Sundays and Memorial Day Monday. Unique products and crafts, including gourmet food. Plus, of course, jousting and gigantic turkey legs. At 2511 FM 66 in Waxahachie. See www.srfestival.com/.

April 14, repeating second Saturdays, monthly. Highway 279 Art Jam in Ben Wheeler and Edom, with a “Flora Galore” theme. Shops open at 10 a.m. in the small towns along FM 279. See http://279artisanstrail.com/ or the February 6, 2012, post on this blog for additional information.

April 21-22. April in Edom. Street fair with handmade items (it’s Edom, so you know they’re good), children’s activities, including spinning and weaving. See
www.aprilinedom.net/.

April 28-29. Spring festival in the Japanese Garden, Fort Worth Botanic Gardens, 3220 Botanic Garden Boulevard, Fort Worth. Events 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday, April 28; 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sunday. See http://fwbg.org/. For more about the Japanese Garden, see my
October 17, 2011, post.

May 5-6. Cottonwood Art Festival. At Richardson’s Cottonwood Park, on Beltline between I-75 and Coit Road. Juried arts show, with music, food, and ducks on the park’s lake. New, later hours -- 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Saturday, May 5; 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday. See www.cottonwoodartfestival.com or Art Festival iPhone App or the September 26, 2011, post on this blog for more information.

May 5 - November 5. Chihuly at the Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road, Dallas. This is the big one. Glass artist Dale Chihuly brings his dramatic sculptures to the Dallas Arboretum. In addition to normal daytime hours, the Arboretum will open Tuesday through Thursday evenings for lighted views of the sculptures and gardens. Price is included in the admission fee.  See www.dallasarboretum.org/ for information.