A couple of different looks at the Fringe Tree captured just at peak bloom.
As for me, one of the truest first signs of spring has to be when peonies begin to bloom. The one shown above was absolutely the first to shine in a whole garden devoted to them. I'm actually not sure I ever paid much attention to them, however, until I moved next door to a couple who grew them on a plot right next to my house so that I was able to watch them bloom all spring long as I hopped into my car each morning to go to work.
I'm keeping an eye out for the "smoke." :-) The flowers, it's said, are clustered in a large open terminal panicles with a fluffy grayish-buff appearance resembling a cloud of smoke over the plant, from which the name derives.