The first flower to show is the snowdrop which can be found in the wild in the undergrowth of the forests, where it can form large carpets in February.
In early spring the forest and the forest edge provide a superb visual display thanks to the many species and the large numbers of spring flowers.
One of the first species to cover the forest floor (from the end of March to mid April) is the hollowroot. Primroses too are very early flowering plants.
In April appear a lot of spring flowers: common lungwort (forest floor), softest lungwort (more open and higher terrain), coralroot, wood anemone, yellow wood anemone, common dog-violet,
spring vetchling, liverleaf, ground-ivy, pilewort and wild garlic.
The forest edges and the scrubs around the grasslands turn white due to the blossoming of the omnipresent blackthorn.
In April the cuckooflower shows up in moist grassland, the marsh-marigold in marshland areas and the white water-crowfoot in sun-drenched brooks.
In May the flowering of the bugleweed, the addersmeat, the nap-at-noon and the dusky crane's-bill is at its peak. At the same time appear the flowers of the yellow archangel.
May is also the month in which most of the orchids are blooming. In the woods we'll find the lady orchid whereas the early marsh-orchid and the bog orchid occur in moist grasslands.
From early summer on, when all of the trees are fully leafed out, we'll shift our attention to the grasslands and open areas.
Common species to be found here at that time are: daisy fleabane, meadow sage, field scabious, common chicory, betony, danewort, agrimony, meadow salsify, hedge woundwort, stiff hedgenettle, forking larkspur, wild carrot and large-flowered hemp-nettle.
Later on, in high summer the following species are joining them: elecampane, parsnip, goldenrod, purple loosestrife, cutleaf teasel, hemp-agrimony, glandular globe-thistle, viper's bugloss, Italian viper's bugloss, horse mint and brown knapweed.
Before summer gives way to autumn the flora is going to surprise us one more time. From the beginning of September (or the end of August) large patches of grassland are carpeted with the lilac flowers of the meadow saffron. They seem to appear out of nowhere as the leaves of the plant already have withered and have disappeared completely at that time of year.
