Spain and it's Alpine Plants.
Spain, where do you start when you travel to one of the countries you have dreamt of visiting for a long time. Seeing plants growing in the wild just sends you into wow I can't believe I am seeing Androsace growing along side Gentians on top of a mountain and the mountains are so rugged. Two books we used to help get us to find the plants we wanted to see were, Mountain flower holidays in Europe by Lionel Bacon 1979, is well out of print now and accommodation has changed but the areas to visit haven't, we used this book for the South of Spain the Sierra's and Cazorla and Mountain flower walks, The Pyrenees and Picos de Europa by Margaret and Henry Taylor for the North of Spain is excellent.
Of course the internet is a wealth of information and there were a lot of books in Spain on their plants and flowers which are great if you can read Spanish. I think if we could get fresh seed from Spain the plants would do very well in Australia, as it is as hot and dry there as is here.
The cable car is a wonderful way to reach the top of Fuenta De.
Androsace villosa Fuenta De.
Gentiana? I'm not experienced enough to know which this Gentian is as they all looked similar except the G. verna and G. pyrenaica were quite distinct. G. acaulis, G. alpina, G. angustifolia, G. occidentalis, all looked so close you could see there were differences but we so seldom see these Gentians except G. acaulis which is much more commonly grown here.
Primula hirsuta was seen quite a bit next to streams.
Iberis spathulata in the scree area up at Fuenta De.
Ranunculus parnassifolius in damp scree, also at Fuenta De.
Trachelium caeruleum was in every crack and crevice along road sides, in walls in the Alhambra Gardens and Buildings.
Convolvulus boissieri at Zubia Sierra a chance find at a rocky outcrop the road side was littered with this plant. If you click on the photo it will enlarge for you and you can see the bright pink aphis on the flowers.
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