[?] Subscribe To This Site

Wildflower Spring Tide

by

Tony Allen

This is the time of year when Andalucia comes close to wildflower heaven. The austere grandeur of the Sierra is flushed with green and overlaid by the colours of a million flowers rushing to shed their seed before the searing heat of summer.

aphyllanthes monspeliensis - Tony Allen

November brought the first hint of new life to roadside verges when the tiny bright green shoots of Bermuda Buttercups began to push through the soil.

By midwinter they bore a mass of golden discs of flower - the first splashes of a rising tide of colour which would sweep across the coastal plain and high into the mountains. More flowers swelled the encroaching tide, staining it with the pinks and purples of convolvulus and bugloss and the blue of anchusa.

helianthemum - Tony Allen

Week by week the mountainsides take on the colours of cistus, helianthemum and sage. By late April the swirling tide is in full flood and the whole land is awash with colourful wildflowers.

This is a walker’s paradise and few other areas in the world can rival Andalucia for its wonderful variety of wildflowers - over 2000 different varieties have been identified in the Sierra Nevada alone. A different aspect or even a slight variation in drainage or soil can change the range of plants seen from one area to another; for example, in a valley, one slope can be dominated by pink cistus, while the hillside opposite is covered with white helianthemum.

Andalucia wildflowers - Tony Allen

The principal flowers to be found here are the glorious gold and white crown daisies, purple bugloss, pink and red bindweed, sweet peas and vetches, borage and anchusa, knapweed and thistles, snap dragons and poppies.

There’s a wonderland array of aromatic herbs like thymes, lavenders, rosemary, curry plants and sage; of the glorious rockroses, cistus and helianthemum; of flaming golden gorse and broom; of daphne and strawberry trees.

Toothed Orchid - Tony Allen

The moment when this riot of colour begins to fade is always a great sadness. I know that I shall have to wait another year to enjoy the Sierra in its full splendour. But with a little knowledge of the mountains it’s always possible to squeeze another week or two of enjoyment before the hot breath of summer stifles the last of the spring flowers.

As a rule of thumb, I reckon that for every 300 metres you climb the flowering season is extended by 10 to 12 days. There’s a similar interval between the north and south faces of most hillsides. So it’s always worth climbing a little higher and exploring a little further to squeeze the last days of pleasure from Andalucia’s glorious spring.

All Text and Photo Copyright Tony Allen.