Greek Wildflowers
Come along and see the beautiful Greek wildflowers that were blooming in during our visit in April. So pretty and resilient.
While in Greece during the month of April we saw lots of wildflowers blooming and starting to bloom (May would be incredible there).
The biggest variety was seen during our hike up to the castle ruin above Corinth (called Acrocorinth), shown above.
The flowers were literally growing out of the rocks. I kept lagging behind our group as I snapped pictures to share, they were so amazing.
I thought I’d share a few with you, to share the beauty in our world.
Greek Wildflowers
Many of the wildflowers we saw blooming were some of the same flowers we have in Oregon (and I’m sure other parts of the US, I’m just going with what I know!), like, clockwise from top left:
- pincushion flower
- wild sweet pea
- poppy
- lupine
There was a ton of chamomile blooming and attracting lots of bees, though I’m not sure what kind of bees these are.
We saw bee hives on practically every other farm on the drive to Corinth, but these aren’t honey bees…are they? Maybe mason bees?
But there were many more that I don’t know the names of.
The purple flowering plant growing in the rock is amazing and one we saw all over Greece growing in the most inhospitable places.
This unknown plant really intrigued me – the leaves were almost identical to lamb’s ears, but the bloom was nothing like the lamb’s ears in my garden.
Of course there are weeds in Greece, like everywhere, but look at this thistle’s leaves – they are veined with white. It’s hard to see in the harsh light (from the beautiful sun that I was completely enjoying, btw), but the veining really makes this stand out from the others.
The blooms are similar to our thistles, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this, have you?
The view when we reached the top of Acrocorinth was spectacular, of course, but I had as much fun looking at all the flowers as I did the view.
If you know any of the names of the unknown flowers, be sure to share in the comments!
Thank you for the pictures and descriptions of flowers. I’m writing my memoir of back-packing Europe in 1989 and at one point I was in Greece and had written down my friend picked wild flowers, but did not write a description of them. Your pictures as most helpful! Thanks.
I’m so glad this was helpful, then!
Loving your blog! We have sailed all around the greek islands.
The pictures you ask about look like oregano (purple/pink flowers), and then below it looks like 2 types of sage. They use the oregano, camomile and sage in what they call mountain tea. Ladies drink it a lot (especially the ladies who are on the change for night sweats).
They drink lots of herbal teas made from herbs found in the mountains or even as weeds in the garden.
Loving all the pictures they bring back lots of memories. Thanks
Oh, thank you, Sol! It’s nice to know those were herbs. Yes, the national herbs of Greece seems to be oregano, with mint running a close second. š
Beautiful. The thistle picture is STUNNING!
Thanks for sharing your trip with us Jami!! Im loving it. It looks like you had gorgeous weather- your pictures are stunning!!!
Rhonda
thanks for hosting! Glad to find the garden party is going on again! š That last flower is something !! They are all lovely but that is just extraordinary! š
Jami-The unknown yellow plant with the lamb’s ear leaves…I have that in my backyard. I purchased it at Home Depot as a “drought tolerant” plant but I lost the tag and the name. I have been hoping to get some more because it truly is an amazing plant.
I loved seeing all the Greek wildflowers!
Just remembered-so weird how it popped into my head!
Jerusalem Sage!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlomis_fruticosa
Oh, wow – I’ve heard of that, but obviously hadn’t seen it. It’s not invasive? And does well with little water? I have a few spots that would do well in. š
We have had ours over a year and it appears to be more mounding than spreading. Here is the write-up on Sunset’s website:
You can see our plant last year here:
http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/2012/06/garden-color-and-fragrance-early-june.html
The plant is now perhaps twice as big and much more full.
We have super hot summers so we watered it (with the drip system) three times a week for five minutes. It did just fine.
What glorious photos. What a fantastic holiday this must have been ! I hope you are having a great day. Blessings…Mary
Did I mention how jealous I am of your trip? Soooo jealous.
Gorgeous flowers! I was in Greece in 1995 – but I wasn’t very interested in flowers back then… š We’ve finally got daffodils out here in Eastern Iowa. I am excited about that! Thanks for hosting & have a great week!
Looks like you had a wonderful trip! I’m afraid I’m no help with the names of the flowers, although they are beautiful! Thanks for sharing š
-Jon