Spring has just sprung in the Northern Hemisphere,and that means an annual natural spectacular is just a couple of weeks away, deep in the heart of Texas.
There are no other natural wonders in the rugged Texas Hill Country. No awe-inspiring canyons, no snow-covered peaks or rain forests or raging mountain streams.Most of the time, the appeal of this tapestry of cedar and oak trees, lazy streams, and low limestone cliffs is more modest.
But there's nothing modest about a Hill Country spring. In 1991, George Oxford Miller published a book of photographs of the region. In the text, the environmental photojournalist wrote that "excitement comes in small packages". He found what he described as "air unadulterated with human additives, stars undimmed by city lights, the uninterrupted sounds of nature, and fields of flowers unblemished by footprints."
Four hundred species of flowers, including Indian Paintbrushes, prickly poppies, flowering herbs, and the most compelling blossom of all-the bluebonnet, the Texas state flower.
"Everybody that I know of, and probably 90 percent of all Texans, have got a picture of either their dog or their child or somebody in the bluebonnet fields," John Thomas told us. He founded Wildseed Farms, the largest flower-seed-producing operation in the nation in the Hill Country town of Fredericksburg.
The area is also known as Tex-Deutsch country.Fredericksburg was founded by German settlers when the area was still open prairie.
You'll still find German architecture, oom-pah bands,German dresses and lederhosen - even Mexican-style tacos Stuffed with sausage and sauerkraut.
But the big spectacle is reserved for spring, when thousands of tourists, 80 percent of them Texans, come to see the hillsides ablaze in wildflowers - especially the bluebonnet.
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春天已经来到了北半球，这也意味着德克萨斯州的中心地区将迎来一年一度的自然界盛事。
德克萨斯州崎岖的希尔山地没有什么特别的自然景观。那里既没有让人产生敬畏的大峡谷，也没有白雪皑皑的山峰，更没有热带雨林或者奔腾的山间溪流。一年中的大部分时间，人们在这里看到的就是雪松和橡树枝繁叶茂，小溪缓缓流淌，以及低矮的石灰崖延伸至远方，一切都显得是那么平淡。
但是，希尔山地的春天绝不平淡。1991年，环境摄影师乔治·牛津·米勒出版了一本该地区的摄影集。米勒在书中写道，“在这里惊喜连连”，因为他发现：这里纯净的空气没有被人类活动污染，满天的繁星没有被城市的灯光遮掩，大自然的声音没有受到惊扰，无际的野花没有被踩在脚下。”
德克萨斯州有400多种野花，包括印第安火焰草、刺罂粟、草药花，以及怒放的矢车菊——德克萨斯的州花。
野花种农场的创办人约翰·托马斯告诉我们，他认识的每个人，很可能大约90%的德克萨斯人，都至少有一张家里的宠物狗、孩子或者其他家人在矢车菊花海中照的照片。托马斯经营的农场位于希尔山地的弗雷德里克斯堡市，是全国最大的花籽生产基地。
这个地区也通常被人们称为“德克萨斯德国郡”。弗雷德里克斯堡当年是德国定居者创建的，当时那里还是一片荒芜的大草原。
如今，人们还可以在那里找到德国建筑物，演奏巴伐利亚传统音乐欧帕帕的乐队，德国服装，以及德式皮短裤，甚至在典型的墨西哥食物Taco玉米卷中，当地人都塞满了德国人喜欢的香肠和泡菜。
不过，当地最壮观的场面仍然是每年春天，成千上万的游客，其中80%来自德克萨斯州各地。他们纷纷涌入希尔山地，去观赏漫山遍野如潮的野花和盛开的矢车菊。