Walking or biking in the Dolomites you will be amazed by the variety and the beauty of the flowers of this alpine area: bellflowers, edelweiss, cranesbill, gentianes and hundreds more.
Picking some flowers for a colourful bunch is really tempting but you'd better think twice:the alpine flora is protected by rigorous laws and fines are extremely high.
Why not just shoot the different colours and shapes of the variety of flowers of the Dolomites?
We selected some of the most popular and easy to recognize flowers of the Dolomites and where to find them.
Want to be social and friendly?
Share the beauty of the flowers of the Dolomites with your friends and followers on socials.
If you choose to do so, well, please tag us at IG hotel_ambra_cortina and FB ambracortina.
We'd love to see your pics, get to know where you saw the flowers and eventually share them with our followers.
Flowers of the Dolomites
Do you know that some species of orchids live in the Dolomites?
And that the felted leaves of the edelweiss do not protect the flowers from the icy temperatures?
The Dolomites are really a haven for flower lovers.
You can find both showy flowers almost dancing in the wind or tiny flowers hiding a few inches from the ground.
All of them will bring a smile to your face and celebrate the beauty of the small things.
Where to find some of the most popular flowers around Cortina in the Dolomites
The meadows of the Dolomites are the ideal place to spot flowers.
But the alpine meadows are also the place where you will meet your fiercest competitors in this "shooting tour" activity: the cows of the Dolomites.
The lazy and greedy cows love to linger in the alpine meadows in summertime and they eat the fresh alpine grass as well as the flowers in it.
Sometimes you'll be probably able to spot a purple orchid right before the mouth of a cow swallow it: bye bye orchid!
Be patient and look further: there are more flowers than cows!
Where to spot Edelweiss around Cortina
That's the typical mountain flower you can find everywhere along the European peaks in the Alps.
Do not get cheated: the flower is originally from the Asian steppes.
Its fluffy leaves do not protect it from the icy winds in winter time.
They serve to reduce the dispersion of water, scarce at high altitudes.
There are plenty of legends and even love legends about this flower.
One of the most enchating stories about the edelweiss tells about how the flower arrived here, in the Dolomites: many thousands years ago, a little star shining in the sky saw a mountain crying.
The star got closer and asked the mountain the reason of its crying.
"I am crying because I am all alone" replied the mountain.
Moved by its sadness, the little star landed on the mountain meadows till dawn.
As the sun slowly rose, the little star found impossible to fly back into the sky.
The ice had covered it and had made any movement impossible.
Deeply moved by the act of generosity of the star, the mountain decided to keep the star on its meadows forever.
It also gave the star some protection against the cold winds: the fluffly leaves.
The marsh orchid in the Dolomites
Some orchids can live in the Dolomites though the weather is rigid for most of the months.
Actually, orchids are not tropical flowers. Not all orchid species, at least.
Some species of orchides live in temperate and alpine areas as well.
These marsh orchids, and even the "lady's slipper orchid", can be found close at Cadin, a silent area in th enearabouts of Lake Ghedina, Oltres area, at Pian de ra Bigontina, on the mountain group of Cinque Torri and at Pian dei Menìs.
The cyclamens at Acquabona
Their unmistakable shape and colors are difficult to go unnoticed.
The cyclamens are a typical alpine flower .
Cyclamens are very common flowers in Cortina where locals love to grow them and use them for decoration in gardens and in pots outside homes and shops.
You can find the wild ones in the shadowy underwoods.
One of the place where you can spot plenty of them is Acquabona, an area with some woods and sunny meadows not fat from Cortina.
Where to find bellfowers around Cortina
Another local flower which come in many varieties is the bellflower.
The bellflower is so common in the Dolomites that the "morettiana bellflower" is the emblem of the Dolomiti Bellunesi Park.
Remember that bellflowers prefer high altitide meadows so you'll need to climb up above 1,000 m of altitude to spot some.
The Pasqua flower in the Dolomites
The Pasque Flower is part of the buttercup families and it comes in many different varieties.
Best time to admire it? At May, when the snow finally melts and the flowers cover the grasslands.
It's right at the beginning of the springtime that their beautiful colors and unique shapes make them an eye-candy