on Prophitis Ilias in the Peloponnese

[jonathan trustram]

I didn't go to the top, I'm much too slow for that. You can drive up a dirt road to the refuge,  but I wouldn't trust a hire car - or any car that wasn't a four wheel drive - and anyway the path through the forest from the end of the tarmacked road is beautiful. Doronicum glows in the shade. Lamium holds its big, delicate, pale pink flowers up proudly, unlike other lamiums where they seem to hide among the leaves. Wonderful to see Abies cephalonica and Pinus nigra regenerating, especially after seeing so much burnt out forest, and so few seedlings, in other areas. The refuge sits near the tree line among magnificent old pines, and then you're out into the white limestone glare. 
First surprise, familiar and yet strange, because I've never seen it at home in the wild before, Aubrieta deltoides

(I see. I think I'm getting the hang of this now - I can see the picture.)
Well, here are the doronicum and the lamium:

[jonathan trustram]

On flatter, grassy ground were drifts of a beautiful orchid, glowing first in the morning light and then in the late afternoon as I returned:

[jonathan trustram]

There were beauriful big clumps of an astragalus, not yet in flower
   Amazing to get up to the snow, with such heat in the valley, and find Crocus sieberi pushing through the dead grass, and celandines! And a beautiful yellow viola

[Maggi Young]

Hello Jonathon, I've combined your two attempts to begin this thread. 
It has never been possible to view  pictures in the preview screen - but you seem to be getting the hang of things again now .... I suggest you read this thread : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=65.0  - it gives lots of tips about posting pictures.  You can return to any of your previous posts to edit / add comments by clicking the  "Modify" button at the top right of the post.   

[jonathan trustram]

thankyou Maggie. Hope I'm not one of those stupid or misinformed beholders who gets a black eye!

edit by maggi - Never Jonathan, never!

[jonathan trustram]

Scilla bifolia grows close to the melting snow, with the crocuses and celandines. And here's a glowing lathyrus, a corydalis, and a euphorbia: in Greece there's always a euphorbia. This one might be myrsinites?

[jonathan trustram]

I stayed further down the valley, at the Ilaeira 'mountain resort', at about 800 metres,  high above the main valley where Sparta lies,  a bit expensive but very nice and in a gorgeous spot. Here are a few pictures from there.
Hypericum olympicum; lupins at dawn (the best time!); marigolds, which must be a garden escape; a not terribly interesting picture of young pines, but after seeing the devastation caused by goats, drought and especially fire, it's wonderful to see forest regenerating; and the very lovely Orchis papilionacea