Floral variations of spring

It's somehow springtime in Germany, 

but most of the time we still have winter temperatures and far too little sunshine.

So many harbingers of spring, except for snowdrops and crocuses, take their time to flourish this spring season.

But step by step you can find more and different spring flowers.

A very early flowering species is Helleborus niger - the Christmas or Easter rose - with a great variety of blossom colours.

Floral Easter decorations - with feathers of the guinea fowl.

Recent Saturday we found even more harbingers of spring - any idea in which famous German (tourist) town I took the photos???

There, along the Philosophers' Way, we found some of our springtime favourites as well...

... the very first magnolia blossoms 2016 and...

...almond blossoms.

Some of them started flourishing already before Christmas 2015 because of the very mild temperatures in December.

Happy & peaceful Easter to all of you! 

 

Almond blossom season 2014 along the Palatinate Wine Route

All photos taken last Saturday, between Landau and Neustadt an der Weinstraße,

Palatinate Wine Route, Germany.

The almond (Prunus dulcis, syn. Prunus amygdalus, Amygdalus communis, Amygdalus dulcis) (or badam in Indian English, from Persian: بادام‎) is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. "Almond" is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. 

The Palatinate Wine Route is one of the rare regions in Germany where thousands of this thermophilic tree are cultivated amidst the Palastine vineyards.

Edenkoben, Heilsbruck monastry and Hambach castle in the background

...more, more, more harbingers of spring!

On Sunday we had sunshine - Yeah!

And more and more we can find harbingers of spring,
although we still have winter temperatures in large parts of Germany.

On Saturday we visited the "Esslinger Garden Days", an enjoyable event in the pedestrian area of the old town of Esslingen, a city in the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.

Several exhibitors presented their products around the topics garden and gardening, among them several flower shops and market gardens with a presentation of the first early flowering plants and flowers.

Pansies in little bottles, tulips and willow catkins were my favourites to take photos from.

But mainly I had my hands in the jacket pockets to keep them warm.

 

At home I took some photos of the almond branches we brought with us from our Easter excursion,
in the meanwhile the buds opened their white and pink petals.

Enjoy your workweek!
Enjoy springtime!

The very first German almond trees are in blossom

The Kaiserstuhl (literally: "Emperor’s Chair") is a range of hills in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany with a maximum height of 556.6 metres (1,826 ft). It is of volcanic origin and located in the southwest of the state.

At the southern tip of the Kaiserstuhl you'll find Germany's hotspot, 

the region with the highest average temperatures. 

There we found three almond trees flourishing end of march 2013 while the rest of the trees and bushes have no greenery at all.

 

Winter hasn't finished yet in many parts of Germany, but here we found the very first touch of spring in Germany.

Gimmeldinger Mandelblütenfest

*** Gimmeldingen's festival of the almond bloom ***

 

It's the end of March and the "Südliche Weinstraße" (Rhineland-Palatinate, Gemany) is painted with vibrant shades of pink and white from millions of almond blossoms.

 It's the time the "Gimmeldinger Mandelblütenfest" takes place. Each year, the date for this festival is determined right after most of the almond blossoms are full-blown.

This year it took place on March, 24 & 25.

Truly the "Gimmeldinger Mandelblütenfest" is just a pseudonym for the first wine festival of the "Südliche Weinstraße" at springtime. Most of the thousands of visitors just cast a glance on the almond trees and thereafter they concentrate on their true object of desire: Pfälzer Wein / Pfälzer Schoppen... ;-)

The region along the "Südliche Weinstrasse" is an old and traditional cultural landscape of viniculture.

A lot of picturesque wine villages with even more enchanting vineyard estates are stringed together along the easterly foothills of the Palatinate Forest / Pfälzer Wald.

 Because of the very mild climate in this area not only grapes are cultivated. You even find a lot of almond trees, sweet chestnuts, fig trees, kiwi and even lemon trees there. 

On the Neustadt market we bought even the first "German asparagus" in 2012. In other regions of Southern Germany you'll have to wait another two to three weeks before you can pick it.

Old and huge almond tree seen from the angle of view of a mouse... ;-)

spring awakening - Frühlingserwachen - part II

Enjoy watching today's almond bloom near the village Birkweiler, Palatinate, Germany