Flowers and Flakes

Last week we happily said goodbye to cold temperatures and snow and hello to robins, blue skies and temperatures that were positively balmy at sixty degrees. The flowers were certainly ready for springtime. The race to be the first to bloom was on!

The pink primrose was a surprise entry:

The blue violets were small but colorful:

The yellow crocus are a perennial contender (forgive the pun):

The title of First Flower of the Year goes to...all of them! We had a three way tie.

Of course, anyone who's lived in the Truckee Meadows for any time at all knew we were going to pay a price for all that lovely spring-like warmth, knew that winter had not had his final say.  Sure enough--it began to snow late Saturday night.  It snowed all night long and we woke up to twelve inches of powdery delight (we expected maybe four inches) and it continued snowing all day Sunday. 

Result:  Winter wonderland.  It's beyond beautiful.  I guess we could think of it as a tribute to the Winter Olympics.  Seems a little unfair that we got Vancouver's snow though.

Not a flower in sight anymore, but Kharma got a new look--snowpants. 

To a gardener living in the High Desert the words "above-average snowpack" are music.  Spring can wait!