To most summer visitors to Mallorca the island is a brown parched landscape with trees. If however you visit in the spring and hire a car or take a bus or train trip you will soon realise what a green and pleasant land this can be.

Once the rainy season gets here, usually at the end of October, the fields start to turn green with cereal crops and new grass beginning to grow. Come the end of January and lasting until late February the Almond trees are in blossom. First those with pink blossom and then those with white. As February comes to an end the green of new leaves can be seen through the blossom and by the start of March the almond groves are pure fresh green. Also in February some of the perennial hedgerow plants like Old Man’s Beard start to flower.

When March arrives the wild flowers really start to bloom. Corn Daisies shoot up amongst the grass and crops and the fields are great splashes of yellow and white. Other plants to be seen at this time are, Wild Gladiolus, Common Asphodel, Common Vetch and Rosy Garlic. (Please note: The caption on the above photo says Camomile but I have since discovered that the flowers are Corn Daises)

In April as the weather warms up Borage, Grey Leaved Cistus, Sun Spurge and a host of other wild flowers add their colour to the already paradisiacal landscape. By the start of May Fennel, Mallow Leaved Bindweed and myriads more plants have added their colour to the landscape which is by now a kaleidoscope of brilliant colours.

Mid June usually brings the start of the really warm temperatures and the landscape begins to dull as the wild flowers shrivel and die leaving behind the brown fields and roadside verges that are so familiar to summer visitors. If you are here during this month you can look out for the Prickly Pear with its yellow flowers. These can be seen by the sides of the road and around the boundaries of fields. In the past this plant was used instead of hedgerows and was excellent for keeping livestock in its correct place.
I have only mentioned a few of the many wild flowers that occur. In the winter of 2003/2004 I photographed and catalogued over one hundred different varieties.

For the gardener, Mallorca is a paradise where plants not only flower throughout the year but also grow at about four times the rate of their British counterparts. Throughout the winters here I have had Marigolds, Polyanthus and Geraniums flowering as well as many others.

So next time you are in Mallorca in the summer and see the parched landscape, try and visualise the fields and hedgerows awash with colour or, better still pay a visit in the late Spring and see it for yourself.