About Me

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Crete, Greece
Married to the lovely Geoffrey, my soulmate. I have two fantastic big kids,both married, whom I love and miss every day I'm not with them, but I know they're living and loving their lives and we make up for time when we get together.I now have three granddaughters too...

Tuesday 7 April 2009

This is What Crete is Famous for..........................1

As some of you know Crete is known throughout the world for it's rare and wild flowers.
There are many species here that are not found anywhere else and many of those are becoming extremely rare. That is why my friend Julia has set up a charity, to help bring attention to and to try to educate people.
We are now in the middle of the very short season where Crete is in bloom. With the hedgerows and hillsides covered in wild flowers. Some are very common, the poppy, chamomile and borage for example but if you look a little harder there are hidden jewels.
As usual,this post is 3 posts long... so please scroll down after reading this 1 to 2 and 3!!
We were lucky enough to uncover this odd specimen, it's commonly know as Cretan Birthwort (Aristolochia cretica) or you may know it as Dutchman's Pipe. This species is only found on Crete and Karpathos and is quite rare.

The orchids are stunning, most are tiny though and can be overlooked quite easily. I do have the names of all the orchids, but if you want more information please visit Julia's site. I have only written the names which sound like fun..........The markings on the lip are to attract pollinating bees

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28 comments:

soulbrush said...

how lovely, actually perfectly lovely in fact, hugs to you in gorgeous crete.are the couple getting married in crete?

Norma Murray said...

Delightful.

Pipany said...

Wow, they are truly stunning Jude. I didn't realise Crete had so many varieties of orchid x

Jenny said...

Wow! Hope to be over there to see them this time next year...

ArtistUnplugged said...

Fascinating and absolutely stunning....thank you for sharing them. You live in an amazingly beautiful place.

Pondside said...

Quite amazing! That last one has a laughing face!

saraeden said...

More gorgeous flowers , thank you for sharing !
The bags are for bridesmaids and the pageboys !!

Sara x

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

Beautiful flowers. The blue ones look like wild flowers we have here. So many people walk right by and never notice them.

Calico Kate said...

Fabulous pictures of flowers Jude. That Dutchmans Pipe is something else!
Fields of Gladioli, how beautiful.
CKx

soulbrush said...

there's an award for you on my blog.

bethan said...

The last one is not a flower... it's CLEARLY a tiny person in a snuggle bag, with big ears. Stop misleading us.

Katiejane said...

These are so beautiful, Jude. We can grow borage here, so I recognized that one right away. The others, however, are completly foreign to me. Of course I know orchids, but to see such beautiful ones growing wild must be a rare treat. Love the (male) monkey ones!! Haha!

Lynn Cohen said...

These first ones look like orchids crossed with prunes!
We have the second blue ones in my garden in Califoria...saw one more familiar pink one with orange center in the post before this one I recognized too. Lots of beauty there. love wild flowers growing ...in the wild.

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

Gorgeous - how different from Tenby daffodils and primroses which are my flowers here just now. i love the orchids!

Melanie said...

I particularly love the Dutchman's Pipe! What lovely flowers and a lovely blog. I look forward to seeing more. :)

maddie said...

They look like creatures from another planet. Amazing.

Chris Stovell said...

Well, at least I've got some sunshine today, which takes the sting out of looking at the fabulous photos from Crete, mind you it's blowing a hoolie.

Paul Diamond said...

Quality pics Jude.

Kathleen said...

Wow! What unique and beautiful flowers. The Dutchman's pipe is amazing.

Taz said...

Gorgeous photos. And good grief I thought I had a bit of trip to get to an Ikea. We spent 3 weeks in Crete for our honeymoon many moons ago so I do have experience of sitting on Cretian sofas LOL

Cait O'Connor said...

What wonderful flower pics. I love borage. That Dutchman's pipe is very unusual!

I will look for a poem or two that you may like. Is there a deadline?

Clare Wassermann said...

What wonderful flowers - I would so like to see wild orchids growing. We are off to your native Cornwall tomorrow - Portscatho to be precise - where are you from?

Milla said...

keep these lovely pictures coming, they are just divine. I'd heard that the Greek islands were at their best in May flower-wise - yes? no? please keep clicking!

bindu said...

These are gorgeous. I'd love to go wandering around in the Greek countryside looking for these. Total bliss.

Ivy said...

You are so fortunate to be living in Crete. I love it. It's one of the places I'd love to live in. Your blog is most interesting. Thanks for visiting.

mimilove forever said...

Incredible specimens and beautifully photographed...litle bit disturbed by the Dutchman's pipe! x;0)
Happy Easter to you!
xx

John said...

I n see why mimilove is a little disturbed by the Dutchman's pipe!
Great photos.

soulbrush said...

all fabulous posts...there's an award for you on my blog, cos i lurv yours! hope you are having a good easter.