The world of alpine flowers

We start with the One Flowered Cat’s Ear (Hypochoeris uniflora), which is easy to identify with its thickened stem directly under a large flower head. It should also be mentioned regarding this plant that the young shoots are edible and the ears also taste good, which is probably the reason behind its name.

You could hardly guess from the luxurious form and the large pink blossoms of the Incarvillea (Incarvillea mairei) from East Tibet (Chinese Sichuan Province) that this plant is a plant which is found in the high mountain ranges. It feels right at home in very high sites, above 4000m (!) and thrives there in great numbers, amongst the grazing yaks. Toni Hofer picked up this plant on his journey to Tibet and positioned it in the Himalayan bed in the Alpine flower garden, where everyone can now marvel at it.

When you enter the Alpine flower garden by the upper entrance, the very first thing that you notice are the many yellow and white Alpine poppy blossoms which sway gently in the wind. The natural spread of the white Alpine poppy (Papaver sendteri) is limited to the Northern Limestone Alps, whereas its yellow sibling (Papaver rhaeticum) is found exclusively in the Southern Limestone Alps. Due to their long tap-roots these Alpine poppies are capable of growing on chalk dumps, which is why they are called “Schuttstauer” (plant holding back rock debris). However, why orange and red-orange blossoms crop up here and there in the Alpine flower garden still remains a mystery.

The meadows in the Alpine flower garden are wonderfully speckled with colour, with yellow Arnica, the blue Bearded Bellflower and the orange-red Shaggy Hawkweed (Hieraceum villosum). Other plants which blossom here include Edelweiss, pink and blue Himalayan poppies (Meconopsis), lilac Alpine flaxweed, yellow (Schnaps) gentian, the impressively large wolly thistle, the insect-pollinated Carex baldensis and lots more.