\u00a9 Veronica Peerless<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Around 1,000 wildflower species, including 45 species of orchid, grow in the area around Lake Bohinj in the heart of the Julian Alps. In late May and early June, the area erupts into a haze of wildflowers<\/a> \u2013 many of them familiar, but rarely seen in such abundance.<\/p>\n
The whole area is a botanist and nature lover\u2019s dream, and the floral richness of the area is celebrated each year in the form of the International Wild Flower Festival in Bohinj. Starting in late May, this charming celebration attracts plant lovers from all over the world but has a distinctly local feel \u2013 most of the (mostly free) events are put on by local people.<\/p>\n
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\u00a9 Veronica Peerless<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Before the meadows are cut for hay (still dried on the traditional wooden racks that are dotted about the countryside) they are studded with the jewel hues of viper\u2019s bugloss, meadow clary, cranesbill, speedwells, knautia, ox-eye daisies, Achillea millefolium<\/em>, at least a dozen orchids, and more. Growing right up to the roadside, they are visible everywhere you walk or drive.<\/p>\n
The flowers higher up in the mountains are less showy than the hay meadows but were no less impressive and include aquilegias, orchids (including the bird\u2019s nest orchid, Neottia nidus<\/em>, which contains no chlorophyll), gentians, cypress spurge and alpine clematis (familiar from our own gardens) and the rare Carnic lily. You may also spot Eryngium<\/a> alpinum<\/em>, said to be so elusive that it is known locally as \u2018man\u2019s fidelity\u2019.<\/p>\n
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