iN PHOTOS: Early spring wildflowers bloom in Thompson-Okanagan grasslands

The earliest spring flowers are blooming in the grasslands of the Thompson-Okanagan and although they are small and low to the ground, they all give showy pops of colour.

Tiny yellow sagebrush buttercups are one of the first flowers to bloom along with white and purple petalled western spring beauty, white biscuitroot and yellow bells, according to the Okanagan-Similkameen Stewardship Society, which advises people not pick them.

Hikers in the region are finding numerous other early spring flowers including low pussytoes and bulbous woodland star. The first petals are appearing on the famous arrow-leaved balsamroot that turns the hillsides yellow every spring.