Having travelled overland by train from London I arrived in Lake Bohinj in late May. I had timed my arrival for the wild flower festival and as they love to say on Tripadvisor ‘boy was I not disappointed!’.
Not only were there a large number of wild flower meadows with a huge diversity of flora but they looked much more beautiful than any of our slightly more homogenous wild flower meadows here in Britain. Plants included ox-eye daisies, yellow rattle, clover, dianthus, Echium vulgare, common spotted orchids, buttercups and many others. The whole thing was done with so little effort (and so few signs!) that I felt completely at home.
There is a respect for nature in Lake Bohinj that I thoroughly approve of; like Italian food culture. They are farmers but they have not destroyed the habitats of native plants and insects in search of profit as we have done here in Britain. I could not comment in terms of how EU subsidies and government restrictions within the national park have effected this happy medium but it would be nice to see aspects of this system of management adopted in British national parks. The Yorkshire dales seems a particularly good place for this to occur because it has abundant rainfall and limestone like Lake Bohinj and is still relatively unspoilt.
I know I have already talked about the crystal clear water but really I could not believe how pure and blue it looked. Not having spent a great deal of time in Switzerland( Slovenia could perhaps be likened to Swiss alps but far cheaper!) I was amazed by the cows that wondered happily and peacefully round the lanes as though it was the Indian Himalayas. I think what made me feel very comfortable in Lake Bohinj, above all, was the people. Not everyone was friendly-I think the Slovenes are intially distrustful of people they do not know. But all the people in the wild flower festival were so pleased that I had come to see Lake Bohinj and went out of their way to give me any information I asked for about the plants, or indeed the general area.
But what really sold it for me was when I was a walk I took through one of the charming( but working) farming villages in the valley. I saw all the families sitting down to dinner, elbows flapping. It was so convivial and homely that I felt sad about how little chance families in Britain get to eat to together even on a Sunday.
Having said all this not everything was perfect. We went up to Vogel, a meadow at the top of one of mountains and marvelled at the Carnolian Lilies. But we were brought down to earth by the remains of a bonfire in the meadow and the begonias used in the nearby mountain inn’s windowboxes. In fact, part of the amazement at the diversity of the flora is caused by the familarity of those plants because so many are used in British gardens.
Plants that stand out are Laburnums growing wild high up on the hillside, Solomon’s seal, Clematis alpina, a shrubby honeysuckle, Astrantia, Geranium phaem, Lamium orvala, Vinca minor(periwinkle), Hellebores and many types of Monkshood.
When I left to begin my volunteer placement in Croatia I was very sad to leave such an unspoilt and unique place. It reminds me that Europe’s strength is it’s diversity (set within a common culture) and if we lose that it will be a very sad day.
A gardener out of this world 