A trip to Har Barkan

On Sunday, we took a drive to Har Barkan, in the Hills of Gilboa, just this side of the 1949 armistice line (the so-called "Green Line"). The last time that we were there, we had walked on the "Iris Trail" and had read that the irises bloomed in late March or April. So, we had made a mental note to return during that time frame, and this was our opportunity.

We were NOT disappointed! There was a profusion of flowers blooming everywhere! I took 73 photographs, and here are 22 of the best, which I edited for your viewing pleasure. First, a large white flower, with a small bug on it that you can see near the top:

I think that this plant is called "Bishop's Weed". We saw lots of them blooming in that area:

Here are some small, delicate pinkish white flowers:

Here's a pair of beautiful pink flowers. We saw quite a few of these there:

Here's a pair of purplish white flowers. I don't think I've see this kind before, and we didn't see a great many of them there, either:

Here's a small group of the same kind of pink flower seen above. These seem to like to bloom in groups:

Here's a close-up detail of another Bishop's Weed blossom:

We didn't see very many of these, but I know from the smell of the leaves that they are some kind of sage:

Here's another group of those photogenic pink flowers!

We saw quite a few of these beautiful blue flowers, which we also see near our house. I thought the little yellow flower down in the corner made a nice contrast:

We saw quite a few flowers like these, which I had also photographed the day before in the Golan:

Now we come to the main reason for this whole trip: the irises. These were VERY RARE there yesterday! In fact, we only spotted TWO flowers! It's likely that there actually were a few more in the area, further from the trails. Because of their dark purple color, they don't stand out very well, and they bloom down low, close to the ground, as well.

I took three photos of each of these two irises, and, luckily for me, they all turned out well. In fact, you can actually see the flowers better in these close-up pictures than I could see them in real life!

Here are the 3 pictures of the first one:



And here are the 3 pictures of the 2nd one:



We saw only a few of these lovely little 6-petaled white flowers:

Here's another example of one of those purplish white flowers that we saw earlier:

We saw quite a few of these stunning red flowers. This pair's photo turned out well, I think:

Here's a beautiful white daisy:

And, I'll close this show with another handsome red flower: