Before lovers co-opted the custom, mortal enemies would exchange bouquets of roses and lilies before duels to symbolize the blood and lilies that were about to be spilt. Find a flower that enflames your own passions with today’s Groupon. For $35, you get a one-year family membership (a $70 value) to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. This deal is good for both new members and existing members keen to renew. You must activate your membership either at the center, by phone, or online by May 31, 2011.

Membership to the Wildflower Center includes:

• Admission for you, another adult, and all your children or grandchildren younger than 18
• Early admission and discounts on bi-annual plant sales
• A 10% discount at the Center’s store and e-store
• Discounts from native plant suppliers nationwide
• A one-year subscription to the Center’s Wildflower magazine.
• Privileges at a variety of other gardens

Read the full list of benefits here.

Because plants are too proud to ask for help from lawyers, doctors, and talent agents, the Wildflower Center takes it upon itself to protect and propagate the native plants and flowers of Hill Country and the greater south and west of Texas. Membership supports their cause and their research partnership with the University of Texas, whose quest for a more alluring, pouting petal never ends. Stroll one of the Center’s four quarter- to half-mile trails among March blooms such as the demure pink evening primrose, the meteoric eastern columbine, and the Suessical plateau spiderwort. Members may also attend art festivals, interactive lectures, and a dozen events now sprouting from the Wildflower Center’s colorful calendar. With your new knowledge and appreciation of each blossom’s aesthetic and ecological role, you might even be inspired to return your own garden to its native splendor and finally evict all those invasive piranha plants blocking your warp pipes.

Reviews

Frommer’s gives an exceptional rating for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and 10Best lists it as one of the best attractions in Austin. Three Insider Pagers give the Wildflower Center a four-star average and 20 Yelpers give it an average of 4.5 stars. Six TripAdvisors give it an average of four owl eyes. > * Taking great strides in the promotion of the conservation, restoration and diversification of native plants, this South Austin attraction features some truly spectacular arrays of flowers with plenty of wildlife nearby. – 10Best > * I think there is something here for everyone, no matter who you are. We were even lucky enough to see a butterfly meta-morph out of a cocoon and that was just one of the cool things I saw that day. – J.D., Yelp, 7/23/2010