Green & Yellow: A blanket of yellow blooms covers the ground as green hillsides rise up and show off their spring green. This colorful scene was at the Pioneer Living History Museum in north Phoenix. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos

We love to visit and explore Arizona in the spring. While much of the mountain west is still covered in snow, the desert is alive and showing off spring blooms.

The winter weather in the desert largely determines the quantity and quality of the spring color. The last couple of years have been wetter than normal winters, which have yielded some beautiful spring flowers.

Our visit this year was a couple of weeks earlier than usual, but the desert did not disappoint. I have seen photos taken more recently that reveal flowers at their peak color and coverage and that will continue for a few more weeks if weather permits.

Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country and he shares his photographs, which appear in the ‘Posts from the Road’ series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.

Brittle bush & Paintbrush: The yellow brittle bush and red Indian paintbrush give this hillside a splash of color north of the Phoenix area near Bartlett Lake. The Ocotillo plant in the right foreground is just beginning to show red blooms also. Each of the long arms will be displaying a red bloom soon. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

Usery Mountain Regional Park: Usery Mountain Regional Park is one of my favorite spots to camp when in the Phoenix area. The Brittle bush was in bloom during our stay there a few weeks ago. Usery is located in far east Mesa, Ariz. near Apache Junction, Ariz. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com

Cave Creek Regional Park: The yellow Brittle bush blooms were bright and plentiful when we stayed at Cave Creek Regional Park in north Phoenix. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com