A New Bright Early Spring Favorite!

If you have been following the blog for awhile, you may know that the hubby and I aren't afraid of a little road tripping.  So, we drove (10 hours) to Oklahoma this weekend for a friends wedding.  I was her "day of" coordinator - what can I say, being bossy comes naturally to me!  We drove to Memphis and stayed the night before driving the rest of the way to Oklahoma.  On the way, our GPS (that the hubby swears is possessed) decided to take us in on the "scenic route".  We drove all through parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma this weekend that I know I would have never seen otherwise.

As the hubby drove, I was glued to the window like a kid at Christmas looking at all the early spring blooms against the bright green of the new leaves that are just starting to pop out.  There were Forsythia, Redbuds, Dogwoods and then there were these. (Representative photo below since I didn't have my camera - it was in the trunk!)

(photo via Turnstone Cabins)

I literally gasped out loud when I saw this bright orange flowering bush!  Isn't it beautiful???  I love that bright orange against the green!!  I had never seen one but I knew I was in love.  Turns out this is a Flowering Quince or Japonica plant.  How freaking gorgeous are these blooms?

(photo via Katie's Flowers and Greenhouse)

I am totally in love!  I did a little searching online to figure out what it was called and found this very informative article on the Flowering Quince from the University of Arkansas.  Although it evidently doesn't flower for very long - I think these blooms are amazing and would look great against a wooded area.  

I also saw another pink blooming bush/tree with no leaves yet.  The blooms were Marquis shaped hot pink blooms with a little white in the middle coming out from the stem.  I have been googling for hours with no luck.  It might have been a flowering Plum tree, but for some reason those flowers don't look right.  It wasn't a Pink Dogwood (the blooms were way too dark) and the flowers were too big to be Cherry Blossoms. Any ideas?  I would love it if you could help me figure it out! 

P.S. I figured it out! The Tulip Tree (or Japanese Magnolia) shown below - is another of my new favorite Spring friends! 

 (Pic from Granny Smith)