Wildflowers Going Wild

It seems like the fields and woods have exploded overnight with wildflowers! A bit of rain, some sunshine...and boom.

I love seeing all the varieties here in our area of Umbria. So different from back home in California. 

The olive groves are usually filled with wild greens that bloom like mustard fields back home. In early May, the red poppies join the party:

I love the color combo!

Right now the wild clover plants are just starting to go off. These are big plants, sometimes two feet wide. I just can't get enough. I make bouquets of the wonderful blooms:

I remember being absolutely gobsmacked the first time I saw cyclamen growing wild in the woods here. What?!? I only knew these as nursery plants or gift plants at Christmas time. Here, they are smaller and fragrant with variegated leaves. They grow in big swaths along our morning walks.

Adorable little things!

Another surprise....Wild orchids! What?!? Right now they are all over in some olive groves. They range in color from a darkish magenta to a soft pink. You are not allowed to dig them up, so don't.

Look close...there are a bunch of orchids in this field!

Neat to see them with their foliage...

I spotted these yesterday on our walk. I think they are 
"Jack -in-the-Pulpit", but not certain. They last about two seconds.

A British pal told me they call these "Cups of Gold".
They are shiny!

Tiny wild sweetpeas are popping up all over now, too. They are as cute as can be!

There are also these larger sweet peas popping up. I think they may be fragrant, but only when the weather warms up.

A lovely combo of sweet peas and valerian.

When I worked in the nurseries, we sold a cultivated version of this plant
as a ground cover. It's a wild "Ajuga".

Another pretty "mess" of blooms!

I'm not sure what this is, and saw it for the first time yesterday...

These are all over now, as well. I think it must be in the "Scillia" family. 

Last, but not least...the humble wild thistle. Even this cursed plant is somehow elevated in it's natural environment here. After all, what would we do without artichokes, right?

 

It's good to be back here in Umbria for "Primavera"...Springtime. It's been a couple of years with covid and all. I guess I'd forgotten just how lovely this "Green Heart" of Italy could be. Sigh.