“Bluebonnets wind up being the first of the sort of showy wildflowers, and then there’s sort of a parade of other ones,” White said. “So when you take care of the bluebonnets, guess what? You take care of the rest of those.”

A half-century ago, Monarch butterflies — tired, hungry and bursting to lay eggs — found plenty of nourishment as they migrated from Mexico through Texas. Native white-flowering balls of antelope milkweed covered grassland areas, growing alongside other nectar-filled flowers.