The Spring Flowers of Andalucia
Wildflowers Light up Spain’s Mediterranean Coast and Mountains
Feb 16, 2009
One of the glories of the Andalucian landscape is the magnificent pageant of spring flowers which paint the mountains and coast each year. The first spring flowers may appear as early as Christmas, coaxed into growth as much by the rains of November and December as by mild temperatures. As the days grow longer and the sun warms the soil, an ever increasing variety of Mediterranean flowers, some small and delicate, others strident and flamboyantly coloured light up the land, rising to a spectacular crescendo in April.
Winter Flowers Provide the Backdrop
In this favoured Mediterranean climate some flowers bloom almost around the year. Rosemary - rosmarinus officinalis, the lavenders - lavandula stoechas, multifida and dentata, and shrubby globularia will flower quietly from autumn right through to summer. Their soft greys and blues contrast with the blazing gold of brooms and gorses, some varieties of which also flower intermittently throughout the autumn and winter.
If you look hard you’ll also find smaller, less obvious flowers, like the yellow buttercup - ranunculus bullatus, the small brown horns of the climbing Dutchman’s Pipe - aristolochia baetica, and on the coastal cliffs and rocks the yellow Sea Daisy - aster maritimus.
But now, month by month an ever growing tide of true spring flowers will spread across the mountains.
January Flowers
The first true heralds of spring are the golden Bermuda Buttercups - oxalis pes-caprea, which appear even before Christmas, carpeting fields, waste ground and road side verges. Isolated specimens of other wayside flowers like Crown Daisies and Convulvulus may also appear, but the Buttercups are January’s most notable flowers.
February Flowers
February comes in with a breathtaking show of almond blossom - cultivated it’s true but impossible to ignore. Mimosa, too, blossoms brilliantly now, naturalised around many old mountain fincas and now very much part of the landscape.
But now the pace of spring is accelerating; Periwinkle - vinca minor, and Scorpion Vetch - coronilla valentina, appear along the roadsides. In the mountains, the stately spires of asphodels, the velvet pink flowers of Jerusalem Sage and the tiny blue Barbary Nuts -gynandiris sysirinchium, carpet fields and slopes.
March Flowers
March comes in with a blaze of colour. Crown Daisies -chrysanthemum coronarius, Pink Convulvulus, Purple Vipers Bugloss - echium plantagineum, Galactites Thistles, and curry plants - helichrysum stoechas, crowd the verges. In the sierras, purple and white cistuses and golden white helianthemums tumble down the slopes and a host of different Mediterranean orchids gleam among the rocks and scrub.
April Flowers
April brings still more flowers to add to the kaleidoscope of colour: Yellow Phlomis and Giant Thapsia, Garlic and Foxgloves, Irises and Gladioli,Thyme, Flax and wild Sweet Peas …the list goes on apparently without end.
But now the higher slopes have been warmed by the sun and bloom with dainty semi - alpines, like Aphylanthes, Stonecrop, Chickweed - cerastium ligusticum, Catchfly - silene italica and Sandwort.
May - Summer Begins
The grand finale comes with the oleanders in early May. Cascading down the hillsides and river beds their pink red flowers signal the coming of summer. The annual spring flowers like the bugloss and crown daisies have shed their seed and died: the bulbs and perennials hunker down to wait out the searing heat of the summer.
Where to Enjoy the Spring Display
Almost anywhere in Andalucia will provide a wonderful spring display, but to see the flowers at their best go walking in the Alpujarras of the Sierra Nevada, or in Axarquia’s Natural Park of the Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama.
