Flowers of the high places of Nepal

Namaste.

Coltsfoot growing beside a rock

I have been surprised by the similarity of the flowers growing wild in the foothills of the Himalaya, to the ones found in my spring garden in UK.  In March the path on our Annapurna trek was lined with beautiful spring flowers; primulas both in pale violet and purple spherical ones, coltsfoot and winter jasmine to name just a few. Again this is a blog page comprising mainly of photographs - words not needed.  Many thanks to Helen for the use of her photos.

Purple spherical Primulas

Tiny Winter Jasmine plant

Tiny primrose type flowers

Rhododendrons grow wild up in the hills, and grow into tall trees. However, I have only seen them with red, pink and white flowers, not the wild purple ones we have as escapees from our gardens in the UK. Of course they may be growing wild in another part of Nepal where I haven't yet visited.

Some flowers are much more spectacular, like the beautiful tree and rock orchids that we saw on our trek to Annapurna Base Camp.

However one plant that I have never seen before, that was growing only near one hamlet high up in the valley was this Cobras Head plant, that looked similar to the pitcher plant family, with a bent over top resembling the head of the snake. Very special and different!