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It was a beautiful spring day, not too hot, not too cool, when four of us set out to have a walk and a picnic. We left from La Crocetta, the apex of the pass over the mountain on which the Captain and I live, and walked to Montallegro, the pilgrim church about which I’ve written in the past. We didn’t set out to have a wildflower walk, but that’s what we ended up having.
For some of the flowers we were too early:

and for some we were too late:

but for oh so many we were there at just the right moment.
Here’s something I learned from this expedition: I am hopeless at identifying wildflowers. I have two books on the subject, both related to flowers in this area, and I still find it almost impossible.
How I wish this blog had ‘smellovision’ so you could smell the sweet acacia:

These, by the way, are a culinary treat when fried up in a batter. Yum.
And I wish I could attach sound to this so you would hear the wind sighing through the trees. It sounded exactly like a Fellini movie (I’m thinking Amarcord, I guess, which I recommend you see if you haven’t already).
Here is a web album of the gorgeous flowers we found along the path. I identified the ones I was able to, but most of them remain a mystery. If you’d care to help identify, please, feel free! I’d be grateful.
If you’d like a quick video of the trail from La Crocetta to MontAllegro, you can ride along here on a February outing with mountain biker ‘guru63byric.’
Web album of wildflower walk:
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| Wildflower Walk from La Crocetta to Montallegro |

Those are indeed lovely photos….you have a new camera!
Thanks, Rowena! I DO have a new camera, a Canon, and I love it… but it has sooo many functions it is taking me a long time to learn its ways. All good fun. Hope your garden is busting out all over…
I love your flower photos!!!
dakotad.com
Thank you Dakota! It helps that they pretty much stand still and wait for me…
What lovely photos, Louise!
I wish I had been on that walk with you!!
Is the Purple, hooded flower an Italian Jack in the Pulpit?
I think your new camera takes great images!
Thanks, Pidge. I’m slowly learning how to use the camera, but I have a long way to go. I believe that plant is called Aristolochia Rotunda, also known as smearwort – not a very nice name for such a demure flower. There are tons of different kinds of Aristolochia; one is Dutchman’s Pipe.
Louise… Thanks for the virtual wildflower walk. I especially like your smell-o-vision notion. I have often wanted to see invented a parallel kind of technology in which one could play into one’s PC’s microphone a recording of a bird heard singing nearby so the PC could unambiguously identify the species . I think this should be possible today and could prove very popular with birders or even with nature lovers in general.
David, I’ll bet there is such a machine in a bird lab somewhere – it’s exactly the sort of thing computers excel at. Check out this site: http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/chat/f/2060/p/38293/290845.aspx. I’ve been working at identifying a couple of birds here that I’ve actually seen (most are so shy it’s hard to see them). Haven’t seen the cuckoo, but we hear him daily. And tonight I heard what I’m sure is a thrush – there’s no other song quite like a thrush’s, I’ve always thought.
I used to walk from Santa Margherita to Portofino, and sometimes to S.Fruttuoso, in the hills above the sea. Even in the winter there were wildflowers of some sort. What a wonderful experience….
Dear Pat, I’ve done the same walk a thousand times, and I always notice something different on every occasion!
That’s one of the glories of Liguria, isn’t it? There is always something in bloom, even in darkest January. We routinely see (or saw, anyway), roses in December. Quite a treat for people from New England. That’s a tough walk, Porto to SF… did you ever try the one from Camogli to SF? Killer! But fun. Don’t know if I could still do it.
The hills around Bagni di Lucca have been covered with acacia – I did a post on it recently. We tried a torte made with acacia blossoms and it was very good. How lucky we are to be able to spend time in such a beautiful place.
You’re so right, Debra (Liz?) – we are incredibly fortunate. By the way, congratulations on your 100,000 mark -yay! Acacia blooms – haven’t tried a torte, but have had them battered and fried. It’s all good.