This morning, I went for my daily walk of about five kilometers. Something I have been doing faithfully for the last 10 months. Now that spring has just started and the first flowers are emerging here and there, I enjoy everything I see along the way even more. I really enjoy those little moments of happiness. I left at half past eight, it was dry outside and a watery sun was already showing itself. I was accompanied by a beautiful bird concert 😊 (sound on!).

I walked towards Žužemberk, five kilometers from our village. The first two kilometers the road runs through the forest and along the side of the road all kinds of different cute little flowers grow, such as the Lungwort. This herb has purple and pink flowers and is picked and dried here to make tea. As the name suggests, it is good for respiratory problems such as coughing.

I also saw beautiful white wood anemones, the cute blue forget-me-not and the Hacquetia. This flower is yellow-green and the flowering period is from about March to May. This plant can also do well in a garden but must be in the shade, under other bushes for example. I regularly dig up wild plants from the ground to plant them in my garden, hoping that they will thrive there. Unfortunately, our two flower gardens are almost completely in full sun, so this plant is unfortunately not suitable.

And what do you think of this special plant? I think this is the early spurge. The name is well chosen because the first flowers appear on the plant early in the spring. This is also a fine perennial that can grow up to a meter high. The inflorescence continues to expand and more and more flowers appear on the flowering stem. Even when the plant has finished flowering it still looks decorative. This can do both in the sun and in partial shade so maybe I should try to take that with me 😉.

The stemless primrose is an edible (and very healthy) flower and is called ‘Trobentica’ here, which means trumpeter. Guess why (sound on!) :D….

Unfortunately, there are also other things ‘growing’ along the side of the road that I don’t want to encounter and that make me very sad instead of happy ☹. That’s why I regularly walk around with a garbage bag and litter grabber, but that’s of course a drop in the ocean.

But hey, maybe, just maybe, there will come a time when we no longer regard nature as a garbage bin. I keep hoping and, in the meantime, enjoy the nature that is (fortunately still a lot here) left.