2017 AGS "Galanthus of the Black Sea" Tour

[Alan_b]

At lower altitude, our guides found us a bank of Galanthus alpinus to look at.  That's the road down there in the background.



Unfortunately the snowdrops had all finished flowering except for a "forma/var. briggsii', one with leaves that were bright green instead of the normal glaucous.



I cannot remember the name of this weird flower but I'm sure somebody can remind me [Gerd says Aristolochia sp. ].

[Alan_b]

We spent the night at the Oasis Hotel, on the coast north of Batumi, which was very nice.  It was a big multi-storey building but out-of-season so I rather think our party may have been the only guests.  Andy was very pleased to track down the Gin and Tonic that he hadn't been able to find in Turkey.

[Gerdk]

I cannot remember the name of this weird flower but I'm sure somebody can remind me.

Sorry, not the full name, only the genus: Aristolochia (a nice one)

Gerd

[Alan_b]

Day 6 (12/3/17):

This day was to prove to be snowdrop-free but not without other points of interest.  We began with a long drive to the city of Kutaisi.  We first went North along the coast road and then took a road heading East North East.  it was quite a long drive with little to do in the way of botany en-route.  However we did stop to look and the Leucojum aestivum.  In the Cambridge Botanic gardens these are grown as a waterside marginal and that seems to be exactly the conditions they choose in nature.

 

[Alan_b]

Close to Kutaisi we stopped at a sloping woodland that we saw was covered with Erithroniums.  We had gone past the densest area by the time we were able to stop but with a little searching we still found quite a lot.  They were very beautiful and growing in what seemed to be much drier conditions than chosen by the ones I have seen in Canada.



This pulmonaria had very pretty flowers; who needs patterned leaves.



Everywhere we went that had any sort of flower seemed to have beautiful primulas in abundance



We encountered this little white potentilla (?) frequently



But maybe it was a bit too early to see much of this lathyrus?

     

[Alan_b]

We stopped by the side of the road for lunch.  There was a pig nearby but she was not interested in joining us.



In Georgia we often saw cows and pigs wandering down the street.

[Alan_b]

Just beyond our picnic site we arrived at Gelati Monastery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelati_Monastery .  The name was a trifle unfortunate because it was another really hot sunny day but there were no ice creams to be had.

Unfortunately the outside of the building was clad in scaffolding



But the frescos inside were spectacular





 

[Alan_b]

Women had to cover their heads inside.

[Alan_b]

Our final stop was the Botanic Gardens in Kutaisi.  Here they make creative use of old plastic bottle tops



Cercis chinensis looked very spectacular here, 'coppiced' to give multiple shoots from the base.  This was also quite a popular plant in people's gardens.



Very pretty; my mind has gone blank to tell you what it is  two people have suggested this is Corylopsis.

[Alan_b]

Within the Gardens there was a chapel inside a tree





This was not our usual mode of transport

[Alan_b]

For the first five nights of the trip we had stayed in quite fancy hotels.  For the last two nights we went downmarket to a large B&B in the suburbs of Kutaisi.  Perhaps our Tour Operator had run out of money?  I missed those little touches like cleaning the dust from under the bed and towels where the soft fluffy bits had not been removed by repeated washing.  This was my bathroom



The close proximity of the shower and the toilet gives a whole new meaning to "Wash and Go".

However the food was authentic, good and arrived in vastly greater quantities than we could possibly eat.       

[Maggi Young]

Very pretty; my mind has gone blank to tell you what it is.

Corylopsis ...... C. glabrescens?

[Alan_b]

Day 7 (13/3/17);

Sadly this was our last full day of the tour; a last chance to see more snowdrop species in the wild.  Our first objective was to see Galanthus shaoricus, a species similar to alpinus.  But en-route we stopped to see more Erithroniums.  Here they are, looking like stars in the sky:



There were areas where scillas grew (as well as the inevitable primulas).

[Alan_b]

We drove on and some way up a mountain pass we stopped to view Galanthus shaoricus.  They and primulas were dotted around on the hillside



My first impression was that they were quite distinct with a green tinge to the leaf colour

 

[Mariette]

Thank You, Alan, for sharing so many inspiring pictures and impressions! Galanthus alpinus forma/var. briggsii will be one IŽll be looking for, but You showed many other interesting variations of other snowdrops new to me, too!