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!

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!

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!

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.