One of the beautiful aspects of the Spring season is seeing nature come to life again.
My town of Littleton, Colorado, is known as the "Flowering Crabapple Capital of Colorado," with over 7,000 pink crabapple trees along the city's streets. The trees were planted in the early 1970s as part of a city beautification plan spearheaded by the City of Littleton's mayor at the time, Vaughn Gardinier. He convinced the Littleton City Council to appropriate funds to plant the colorful trees along city streets and to encourage homeowners to plant them in yards throughout the city.
In 2011, with the encouragement of the former Mayor Gardinier, and in celebration of the original effort, the City selected streets with the most colorful collection of the flowering trees and drew a map of a continuous loop route through the community to showcase the beautiful color. It was designated the “Littleton Crabapple Route.” Signs were created by the City staff and placed along the Route to mark it.
My husband and I took a drive along the Crabapple Tree Route ...
...to enjoy the beauty!
We saw so many crabapple trees!
In 2012, a group of citizen volunteers created a non-profit corporation and secured IRS designation to make tax-deductible donations possible, named the “Littleton Crabapple Route, Inc." Its purpose is to continue and promote the appreciation of the springtime color display of flowering crabapple trees in Littleton. They plant additional trees each year and encourage community events that recognize Littleton’s unique beautification heritage.
New trees planted are ornamental, of the nonfruit-producing kind.
The high Rocky Mountains are still snow-filled, as you can see by the photo above, but ski season will be ending in the next few weeks and months--the last will be Arapahoe Basin, which estimates June 8th to be their closing date!
I also know spring has arrived when the squirrels become bolder in their search for food. They have been invading my backyard trees lately and eating the budding leaves. One even tried taking a bite of a plastic hummingbird ornament I have hanging in a tree! They make me laugh!
I hope you are enjoying the changing seasons where you live--have a happy week ahead!
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29 comments:
Littleton’s vibrant crabapple legacy and the contrast of blooming trees with snow-capped mountains beautifully capture the spirit of spring’s arrival.
Hello Pat,
I love the beautiful trees, the blossoms are lovely and a pretty color. The squirrels are a pain here, they are eating the wires in our car. Have a happy day and a blessed Easter week!
These are lovely trees :-D
Wow... I love the springtime so much here in your post. What colourful power now.
Thank you for sharing, for leaving a comment and being part at MosaicMonday.
Greetings by Heidrun
Pat, this is beautiful! I didn't know there was such a thing! I am going to have to check this out. I live in Parker but teach once a week at ACC, and my daughter has lived in Littleton for the past year. We'll have to do the drive. I've saved the map you shared. :) Visiting from the Hearth and Soul linkup.
So lovely!
Thank you for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-few-more-before-i-forget.html
Oh my, Pat! Those are just beyond gorgeous. And they must smell heavenly, too. I love the squirrels -- they make me laugh too (except when they're digging in my pots of freshly planted lettuce and spinach seeds!)
The blooms are spectacular!
The crabapple trees are beautiful. How good was it that the future thinking mayor organised the planting of these trees. I don't think we have Crabapple trees here. Autumn is slowly creeping on to us. It is so nice not having the high humidity of summer. However, we are having more rain than usual at this time of the year.
Greg's Aunt and Uncle lived in Littleton before they passed away. Beautiful blooms on those trees!
The blooms are so pretty!
And those squirrels definitely know how to make an impression!
Thanks for sharing this lovely glimpse of Littleton’s springtime! 🌸🌳
Happy Wednesday, Pat!
wow! These are beautiful and great photos ~ thanks,
Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
A ShutterBug Explores ~ clm
aka (A Creative Harbor)
What a beautiful drive; those trees are so pretty. We have seen squirrels around a lot lately too. In fact one tried to climb the siding of our house today to get to our window bird feeder. They make me laugh too.
Gorgeous! Love that there is a designated Littleton Crabapple Route.
-Soma
Those crabapple trees are gorgeous!! We don't have them in Oklahoma.
...Littleton is ablaze with color, thanks sharing with me.
Such beautiful blooms.
Such beautiful blooms.
Your photos really capture the vibrant colors. The Crabapple Route is absolutely beautiful.
those trees look gorgeous!
It's a wonderful road. I like these trees (kwarkito)
Beautiful trees.
Spectacular blooms. They really put on a show!
Glorious!
I enjoyed seeing all of your photographs ... but the blossom trees are so beautiful.
Happy Easter Wishes.
All the best Jan
These trees are stunning! The color is very vibrant. Thank you for linking up.
HI Pat! I love this! Sharing on a future weekend edit (and my daughter)! Hope you had a Happy Easter! We just got home from NYC! beautiful weather! xo laura
It is wonderful to be in spring again....Michelle
Beautiful....our neighbors had a tree like this and we used to try to get other kids to eat the crab apples....so tart..Michelle
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