Winter Wild Flowers in Normandy

The Normandy countryside can be a little drab in winter but despite the short days and the chill of wind and rain, if you know where to look it, you will find gems to cheer a leaden heart in the form of some hardy flowers that refuse to succumb to winter's cold grip. 

Some will be brave hangers-on from previous warmer days whilst others are the very earliest blooms, taking advantage of the slightest rise in the temperature and standing proud, ready to remind us that Spring will return soon. Seldom big and often rather bedraggled, these flowers are not like their showy cousins of Spring, Summer and Autumn but their determination to bloom in the darkest of days makes them all the more a joy to see.

Take a walk around the footpaths near to Eco-Gites of Lénault and unless we have a prolonged cold spell or a covering of snow, you can be sure to find some wild flowers.  From now until the end of February (I always say Spring starts on March 1st) I will record which wild flowers I have spotted on my walks ... so do pop back to this blog post from time to time to see how the list is growing.

Update - we are now in March and the spring wild flowers are bursting into bloom en masse. But these 33 species (and the wonderfully spotty leaves of the Early Purple Orchids) were all the more special for flowering in the dark months of winter.  There wasn't one day all through winter that I didn't see a wild flower although it's true that on some days they were not easy to find and were rather raggedy!

Winter Wild Flowers seen around Eco-Gites of Lénault in Normandy, France

Early Dog Violet - Red Campion

Primrose - Lesser Celandine

Cowslip - Field Pansy

Bramble - Gorse

Sweet Violet

Red Dead Nettle

Leaves of an Early Purple Orchid

What winter wild flowers have you seen?