Signs of Spring

A little over a week ago was the first day of Spring.  This year Spring greeted central Oklahoma with another snow event.  For the first time in my life, I lost count of how many times it snowed on us this Winter!  It was a record breaking year.

The good news to come from the snow is that everything was well watered throughout the cold half of the year.  And now the trees are starting to wake from their slumber.

A blooming fruit tree near our house

Every year I notice new things in the Spring.  This year I noticed many trees in my neighborhood covered in little fuzzy red along the tips of their branches.  The trees were so thoroughly covered that it almost looked like fall colors on the trees.  I thought maybe it was the new leaves coming out of buds on the trees.  On closer inspection, I decided they weren't leaf buds emerging, but tiny blossoms.  These trees are not what I would considering flowering trees.  I'm wondering if these trees always light up red in the Spring or if this only happens after really wet Winters like the one we just had.  I'm thinking this Winter and Spring were special.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of these trees and now they have stopped their show of red.  I'll be watching for this next year.

I pass this Forsythia on my way to work every morning. I like to call it the "Glowing Orb of Gold."

Our quince bush as of a couple of days ago.

Colors that I never miss in the Spring are the yellow Forsythias and pink Quince bushes.  They are some of my favorite colors during the year.  This year our Quince bush bloomed more than a month later than it did last year!  There are many other fruit trees in bloom: cherry, plum, peach and pear.

I pass this beautiful tree on my way to work each morning, as well.  I believe it is a Cherry tree. It is old and large and gorgeous. I couldn't capture it well in the picture. The blooms sort of blend in with the sky color. I'll have to try again next year.

Christie and I spent some time on Saturday just driving around town looking at all of the blooming trees.  It was like looking at Christmas lights.   We drove slowly down the streets, looking down each side street and backtracking whenever one of us announced a good tree worth turning around for.

Our Saucer Magnolia / Tulip Tree (Magnolia x soulangeana)

We didn't realize how many large Saucer Magnolia/Tulip Trees (Magnolia x soulangeana) were in town until this weekend.  There are some surprisingly large ones in our neighborhood that must be very old, since they are relatively slow growing trees.  Many of these trees were in back yards and we only saw their tops over fences because we were looking for them as we drove around town.

My favorite Daffodil is white with a rusty orange center. We have just a couple of these blooming in our corner garden.

Daffodils and Hyacinth have been blooming all over town for a couple of weeks and Tulips are just getting started.  We are excited about the unveiling of our new tulip colors this year.  It won't be long!

Our peach tree

Our multicolored Peach tree is blooming up a storm, as well.  The dual colors of this tree amazes everyone that looks at it.  I have a lot of close up (macro) pictures I will be sharing of many of these blooms over the next week.  Stay tuned!