Spring season arriving early

Buds and blooms are exploding throughout Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas, bringing an earlier than usual array of color to the countryside.

"It's awfully early," said Bruce Hoffman, a Nebraska Certified Arborist from McCook. "We're about 15 days ahead of schedule."

Because of an abundance of warm weather during the winter months, trees and perennial flowers are bursting forth with brightness, including a dazzling display up and down Norris Avenue.

Leading the spring parade of brilliance is the callery pear tree in front of the McCook Art Guild Gallery. Planted by Joe Magrath more than a decade ago, the now tall, full tree is adorned with fat, white blooms.

In the years following the pear planting, dozens of other trees have been taken root in the downtown business district, including purple leaf pear and the cockspur hawthornes, which are about as wide as they are tall.

Flowering crab trees are also coming on, almost ready to reach the height of their spring splendor.

While beautiful, the early emergence of flowers and trees is also troubling. The reason is that the premature buds and blooms are a result of this area's continuing drought.

"We're losing a lot of trees," Hoffman said. "You don't notice it so much in town, but out in the country, especially along the river, more and more trees are dying out."

One other worry -- with the early emergence of trees, plants and flowers -- is a hard freeze. "We'll be okay if the temperature stays in the 30s," the arborist said, "but if the thermometer falls to the mid 20s for several hours, it would cause quite a setback."

And, so, as usual, the annual renewal of plant life is producing a rush of emotions among human inhabitants of planet earth. "Will it rain?" "Will it freeze?" "How long will the flowers last?"

Yes, we have plenty of questions. But, even so, we still find time to take pleasure in the beauty of springtime, with each day bringing delightful new buds and blooms for our viewing pleasure.