Primula veris - cowslip - primevère

As the name suggests it is one of the first spring flowers to appear in the fresh & wet areas of our alpine regions.

The flowers can be used to help as an expectorant when one has a cough in the spring months.

Viola sylvatica - Violette - Violet

Wow I just discovered something fascinating about violets : they are cleistogamous & self-fertilizing. 

Uhhhh, what does that mean? 

Dont worry I just learned myself! It means they flower in spring as a barren flower without seed. In the fall they flower again and are so small you almost dont notice them, but these are without petals and contain alot of seeds!

Nature is just soooo cool!

They are edible and can be put into salads and desserts, which is a cute thing to do!

I took this pic today! Yippeee!

Cydonia oblonga - Quince tree - Cognassier

 These flowers are from a quince tree in my garden. 

They come out in May, sometimes while it is still snowing!

I can't wait to see them with our honey bees this spring!

The fruit smells sooo good that I wish it didn't have to be cooked for hours before eating!

Achillea millefolium - Common yarrow - Achillée millefeuille

A magical plant!

 The leaves from this flower are as it says, thousands, millefeuille. 

They help stop hemorraging. 

I once cut my finger and tied a leaf around the cut and it stopped! 

I had been bleeding non-stop for a good 5 minutes, 

and no amount of pressure I was applying was helping. 

You can make a delicious tea out of the flower heads to help with feminine problems. 

Just be sure not to give this to anyone who has any blood issues!!! 

Grasshoppers like them too!

Salvia pratensis - Sauge des prés - Wild Sage

This is one you see all summer long in the fields. 

You can use & eat the flowers as decorations in salads. 

The leaves are used to make infusions that are supposed to make your throat feel good. 

It is particularly tasty as a sirop in summer. 

Nigritella rhellicani - Orchis vanille - Vanilla orchid

This cutie grows between 1500-2500 meters so you will only find it in the mountains. They don't grow very tall, so you have to get onto your knees to stick your nose on it to find out why it has the word vanilla in its name. Ohhhhh! It is soooo worth it!

Wild orchids are all protected in Switzerland, so don't pick it when you see it please!

Daffodils

Spriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Cicerbita alpina - Cicerbite des Alpes - Blue Sow-thistle

Apparently the leaves can be eaten as salade or cooked as spinach. But I have never tried it. Will let you know when I do, certainly since it grows like crazy up around the Marlénaz region (behind my house up in Verbier).

Aquilegia vulgaris - Ancolie commune - Common Columbine

This is a toxic plant!

 Be careful because at my house it grows in my veggie garden, so be aware that not everything that grows or is eaten by wild animals or even domestic animals is good for human consumption.

I like the back trumpet shapes in the petals (technically called spurred petals)!

It is this claw shape that has given it its name 'aquila' is Latin for eagle.

 It is definitely tooting its horn!

It produces a lot of seeds, so it is impossible to get out of a veggie garden. 

It attracts bumblebees and I love to watch their furry bodies inside them. 

The openings are not adequately shaped for our honey bees, so they actually pierce the back trumpets to get to the nectar! Isn't nature cool?

Geranium silvaticum - Wood cranesbill - Géranium des bois

Hey guess what? 

These are all over the place all summer long, 

at most altitudes people walk around in, 

and they are edible! 

Yeah, just pick a bunch (make sure they are not in a polluted spot) 

and scatter them in your salads or picnic!

Orchis ustulata - Orchis brûlée - Dark-winged Orchis

One of the many local wild orchids one can find in the Alps.

Two little burnt tips sticking out of an alpine cow pasture! 

They must be why the Swiss Bagnes Cheeses are so yummie!

Knautia silvatica - Knautie des forêts - Wood Scabious

*POW*

 This is why I love to take macro photos in nature! This friendly purple flower looks like a firework exploding! Just what one needs to see on a day when it is raining halfway up the mountain! 

Carlina aucalis - chardon d'argent - silver thistle

This photo was also taken this week before it snowed.

Locally we also call this the barometer. When it is sunny and dry out the petals are open, and when it is wet and humid out the petals close around it! 

It is a funny flower stuck to the ground as it has virtually no stem, and it is surrounded by prickly needles on its leaves. It is impossible to pick with nare hands, but it makes an excellent subject for photos.

Interestingly enough, when it has gone to seed like here the center is sooo soft, it is worth taking off your gloves to touch it!

Tussilago farfara - Tussilage - Coltsfoot

I took this photo yesterday, 20th of Feb, in Verbier snowshoeing along around the Marlénaz and Bisse du Levron area.

So this happy yellow head sticks out right after the snow has melted away, a month or 2 before its leaves will start to grow! The leaves are what gives the flower its name in English: Coltsfoot, because they look like the imprint of a colt's foot. The leaves are white and soft on their underside and actually quite robust, they are excellent to use if you have forgotten toilet paper! ;)

You can pick a few flower heads and boil them in water with honey & lemon to make a syrup that is soooo yummy! But it is also good for your throat, which is what most people need at this time of year!

The syrup will keep, but I find it so delicious that it usually disappears the same day I make it!

Astrantia major - Grande astrance - Big Masterwort

This flower has such a weird, and somewhat ghoulish name that makes me think it comes out of  a Tolken book like The Hobbit : Master Wort!!

Regardless of its name, it is absolutely stunning. I have seen quite often, at least every summer. 

Here is a close up of the flower heads. I love how it is green, white, pink all at the same time.

Dryas octopetala - Dryade à 8 pétales / Chênette - Mountain Avens

A flower with 8 white petals

This is a cute white flower with a bright happy yellow center! It is an alpine flower and its leaves remain green all year around. They say here in Switzerland that they were used during World War I & II to make tea. I think the Swiss military that were at altitude to protect the borders were melting snow every day and that eventually they would get to the bottom of the snowpack and find these green leaves, having nothing much to eat why not add them to the meltwater for taste? I have tried it in my hot water thermos and personally I did not think much of it as a tea, but then again I was not up in the Alps in the middle of winter freezing my hands & feet waiting for some military invasion, so I can imagine that to them it was a different thing altogether. 

This is what it looks like when it has gone to seed. A bunch of hair sticking straight up, waiting for the wind to take away the seeds and spread them further along the crest of the Alps to bloom elsewhere in the summertime. As you can see the leaves have not changed color as the flower has bloomed and gone to seed.