Facts about Early Blooming Flowers

Hey everyone, as always I hope you are all doing well and you had a day full of great experiences! Today I would like to present a few pictures of flowers and hope you are able to expand your knowledge.

Here you can see some pictures of different plants that have in common that they are early bloomers. From a symbolic point of view, these types of flowers can also be regarded as the end of winter as well as the beginning of spring and in mythology there are numerous legends that revolve around these messengers of spring and in Greek mythology it is often associated with the god of spring Apollo or the goddess of the underworld Persephone who initiates spring as soon as she leaves the underworld. Often natural spirits such as the nymphs are also associated with flowers and in the Roman mythology it is god Janus who stands as the link between the change of the seasons and the goddess Flora is also revered as the goddess of flowers. Often the rhizomes of early bloomers grow while the flowers are still covered by snow and in the underground parts of the plant some minerals are also stored there which promote growth and without the storage of certain nutrients, growth would probably not be so easily possible. Typical characteristic properties are that early bloomers fully concentrate on the forming of the flower and usually form almost no leaves or stems and most species can be found in forests where they stand out among foliage and also in gardens they are one of the first to convince with their color variety. The first appears as early as January and during this time the energy of the sun is usually not sufficient to supply flowers with enough light and therefore this property is of great importance and would probably not be able to cope without an additional storage of energy.

The enchanting snowdrops which can also be seen in my pictures have an amazing property and the bulbs in the earth generate heat by burning carbohydrates, which causes the temperature of the plant to heat up strongly that it is even able to find its way out of the snow by itself. Some species of early flowering plants spread via birds or ants that eat the seeds and distribute them through the subsequent excretion and ants often transport the seeds to their nest and need it for daily survival and on the way they often lose some and thus help with the spread. Other species are able to spread their seeds by themselves and contribute to distribution at an enormous pace and via the rhizomes the plants are spreading very quickly without it being visible to the human eye. Of course, the ecological aspect is not to be neglected and during this time the supply of pollen or nectar is even less and it is one of the kind of plants that provide bees, bumblebees and other insects with food, which in turn are of great importance for the natural circulation. Some insects also need parts of the plant for the construction of their nests and especially species that form colonies often have it very difficult to find food during this time and these little helpers come just shot out of the ground at the right time. Some insects find it particularly difficult to get food during this time and this includes wild bees, which are increasingly threatened and are dependent on any kind of food source and those who want to plant early bloomers themselves should do so already in autumn as long as the soil is not yet frozen and the first plants show up then in spring.

Thank you very much for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about nature! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.