Spring in the Aegean and Mediterranean 
Author: C. Coldu,Date: Mar 2000 

Spring in Turkey begins on the Mediterranean coast. As the soil warms up in February the first spring flowers begin to appear. Although there is plenty of greenery throughout the year in this region, the deciduous trees are still bare and the evergreens in a state of suspended growth. The first signs of new growth are the grasses and flowers. Snowdrops, narcissi, crocuses and chamomile splash the fresh green carpet of grass with colour, and fill the air with their mingled scent. Next spring comes to the Aegean. 
Indeed, on its southern coasts between Marmaris and Bodrum spring comes simultaneously with the Mediterranean. Most years the almond trees of the Datça peninsula and the eastern Mediterranean city of Adana come into flower at the same time. When the narcissi open at Çirali in the Gulf of Antalya, their relatives at Gümüslük and Yahsi Yali on the Bodrum peninsula follow suit. 

In south facing sheltered bays anemones begin to display their colours in February. But generally speaking March marks the start of spring for the Aegean. The Aegean spring is characterised most of all by the flowering plants growing beneath the olive trees which dominate the Aegean landscape. Although the olive groves along the Aegean from Edremit to Milas are a cultivated form of vegetation, their antiquity has made them almost a natural tree covering here. On the hills the soil beneath the olive trees is covered by a flora of entirely natural herbaceous plants. Since farmers care for hilly land under olives very rarely, and sometimes never, the plants which form the natural vegetation beneath the olive trees survives intact. 

The diversity of such plants is enormous. In areas in the plain with deep soil where hoeing is carried out once in a while are found the mayweed with its large daisy-like flowers so typical of the Aegean, poppies, buttercups, and deadnettles. In the olive groves on hilly slopes the anemones herald spring with their brilliant blooms and pretty foliage. In mild winters the anemones are known to come out in mid-February, but under normal conditions do not appear until the end of the month and continue to bloom until mid-April. 

Anemones exhibit a range of hue unequalled by any other wild flowers of the region. In white, violet, purple and red, and every imaginable mixture and tone of these colours, they represent the exuberance of spring almost on their own. April is the month when the flowers of the Aegean reach a peak of diversity and abundance. Simultaneously the maquis shrubland, woods, meadows, vineyards and orchards are at their lushest. 

As May approaches the citrus trees come into flower, filling the air with their fragrance. Chamomile, sea squill, poppies, irises, gladioli, chicory, fennel and Spanish broom are to be seen everywhere, and less often wild onions and garlic, white lilies and orchids. Throughout the year the Aegean is bedecked in shifting tones of green. The pine forest, maquis, olive groves and citrus orchards are all evergreen, but the ground vegetation only sprouts after the winter rains have given new life to the sun-baked soil. 

Spring is the season to see the Aegean at its most brilliant green against the background of the blue sea. Open land which in summer looks as brown and bare as a desert is then revealed to be an emerald carpet bejewelled with flowers.  

for more info and daily weather boardcast please visit  www.meteor.gov.tr 

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