Spring has sprung!

Winter seems to finally be on the wane! I am so glad that the daffodils and other early spring flowers have decided to show themselves in my Central Oregon Garden! It always amazes me to see primroses blooming on the ground even when the nights are in the teens! These hardy perennial plants seem to thrive on tough conditions. In the Central Oregon high desert, the ground can be frozen yet bone dry at the same time and these plants still find enough to live on and bloom! In spite of several snow storms and cold snaps, the daffodils and hyacinths are now blooming along with the forsythia.
Even though it has been cold and we wait impatiently for spring, it is still a wonderful time of year. As the days start to warm there is enough snow on the mountains to make the view driving toward Bend or Redmond fabulous! The Three Sisters show up against the skyline like nothing from anywhere else!
We just got back from a trip to Oklahoma City last week. The landscape there is flat and brown and dead except for the state tree called the Red bud tree. We saw them blooming bright purple in Bricktown next to the Cox Convention center and in landscaped areas around the city. According to the locals, the trees start out with red buds, hence the name.
We drove 90 miles to Ada from OKC to tour our corporate home office facility and on the drive there, not a mountain or hill to be seen and the trees on the side of the road all looked the same. Oregon has such bio diversity compared to the mid west states! We have so much to be thankful for even if it freezes at night until mid summer!