Mountain daffodils

You don't know whether it's true or whether you're in paradise when nature weaves a white carpet in May.

Author: Aleš Krivec

In May, the sunny slopes of Karavanke are whitened with mountain daffodils, also known as "locks “, by the locals.

The meadows between the villages of Plavški Rovt, Prihodi, Planina pod Golico, and Javorniški Rovt are home to the majority of the white, red-bordered sun in the middle and pleasantly fragrant flowers.

These locals recount a folktale about how God once forbade bees from gathering honey on Sundays and public holidays. They disobeyed him. So he made an impassable bulge for the honey in the stems beneath the white flowers, locking it inside. The bees were tamed, and the locked daffodils became known as locks, at least among the locals.

The white flowers are members of the Narcissus family, and their Latin name is Narcissus poeticus subsp. Radiflorus. The leaves are 5 to 8 mm wide, the floral cloth petals are irregularly ovate and overlap each other, the stamens are of varying lengths, and the bract is bowl-shaped with a crimson-red wavy edge. It is a bulb that turns green as soon as the snow melts, and its lifespan is 3 years. After flowering, it is important that the leaves remain green to allow food to be stored in the bulb for next year's growth. As long as the leaves are green, they are toxic to livestock. In order to preserve these beautiful white flowers, traditional farming methods are carried out, as well as regular late mowing in June. Fertilizing meadows is allowed only with home-grown fertilizers and it is not allowed to overgrow the terrain.

It is forbidden to intentionally destroy, tear, or cut the daffodil.

The Golica Tourist Society also takes care of the preservation of daffodils and various events during the flowering of daffodils.

Planina pod Golico and Javorniški Rovt are excellent starting points for visiting the daffodils meadows. In May, a bus will take you to these two villages.

Let's preserve the daffodils

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A walk through the village of Planina pod Golico through children's eyes

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