Every March, when the SXSW Music Conference comes to Austin, capping off a week of the SXSW Interactive and Film Conferences, the city embraces, and braces for the hordes of attendees and massive traffic snarls in and around downtown. At Texas Highways, with our offices just a stone’s throw from the epicenter of downtown, where the conference takes place, and South Congress Avenue, where many free music events occur, we feel the effects of the SXSW tsunami, from press releases touting SXSW-related events to courier delays from our prepress vendor due to the gridlock. Music from the day parties can even be heard in our parking lot. The aural lure combined with sunny, mild spring-like weather can tempt even the most dedicated worker to distraction.

Thursday afternoon, after carefully coordinating deadline schedules for the May issue, I took an extended lunch with my daughter, Lucy, to one of the many free, no badge/wristband showcases. We saw a couple of bands, including an indie-pop trio, The Antlers, on the grounds of the French Legation, an historic museum on the east side, and an unlikely venue for rock music, but typical of the unusual performer and performance space pairings found at SXSW. We helped ourselves to the free Izze carbonated-fruit drinks offered, and discovered free Torchy’s egg-and-cheese tacos around the corner at another free music party.

As my car crawled through traffic getting there and back, it allowed me a chance to observe the human groundswell walking and riding bikes to the various venues. In the hilly streets with the city skyline as a backdrop, it seemed to resemble what Haight-Ashbury must’ve looked like in the Sixties. Even the clothing and hairstyles of the mostly twenty-somethings would’ve been right at home in that era. It took a huge mental shift for me to get back into workaday mode, but made for an energizing respite.

On the grounds of the French Legation during SXSW

Lucy took this photo of Peter Silberman of The Antlers.

TH reader “Steve” from Liberty Hill just emailed us about Melissa Gaskill’s “Trips to Bountiful” in the new April issue (available on newsstands): “This is regarding a special wildflower located on the drive route within Melissa’s very nice Wildflower Drives story,” Steve says. “She mentions Park Road 4 off Texas 29 west of Inks lake. Tell readers to be on the lookout for a special variety of Indian blanket that are all red; their ray flowers are not tipped with yellow. There are very few patches of these in western Burnet County. One spectacular patch is located on Texas 29 between the Inks Dam and Park Road 4 to Inks Lake. Look for the big patch located near two small roadside ponds; it is quite dramatic.”

 The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s plant database lists the red Indian blanket (Gaillardia amblyodon), also known as maroon blanketflower and red gaillardia.

 Tell us about your favorite wildflower finds!

This year’s April Wildflower Issue, 22 pages of the best of Texas’ spring color, marks my 15^th year designing this spectacular feature. One of my biggest challenges each year is in presenting flower photos that are fresh yet timeless, and composing striking image combinations. This could not be possible without the hundreds of photo submissions we receive from photographers throughout the state. Much, if not most of the credit goes to Photo Editor Griff Smith for reviewing all of the submissions and paring them down to just over a hundred. Of these, only 22 were selected for this year’s feature. The criteria for selection includes such things as whether a particular flower is mentioned on one of the four wildflower drives, the region where the flower was shot, and of course, visual impact, color, and composition.

TH Photo Editor Griff Smith spotted this patch of phlox in Lee County.

Although there are a few “go-to” wildflower-photogs we count on year after year to provide stellar flower coverage, Griff and I are always surprised and amazed by the new discoveries we uncover—photographers whose work graces the wildflower pages for the first time. This year, Steven Schwartzman, Aja Martin, Randy Heisch, and Erik H. Pronske, M.D. (actually, this is his second year) join forces with stalwart WF shooters Richard Reynolds, Tim Fitzharris, Lance Varnell, and Joe Lowery, who provided the front cover image, as he has for many Aprils. And there are some returning WF veterans—welcome back, Wyman Meinzer and Al Braden!

So you think you can shoot? If you’re interested in submitting your wildflower photos to us, start by taking a look at the Photo Guidelines on our website before sending. And please refrain from sending wildflower images featuring babies or other loved ones. In the pages of TH, flowers are the focus!

More photo opps.: Mark your calendar for May 3-9 when the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and Canon join us in presenting an exhibit of Texas-size, larger-than-life wildlflower images from the April issue at the Wildflower Center’s McDermott Learning Center. Keep checking our website, become a fan on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter for the latest details on this very special event!