Lilies and Related Plants - RHS Lily Group

Lilies of the Julian Alps
In this article Alan Mitchell writes about the lilies he found and
the one he missed when he revisited the Julian Alps in 2010 .
The Julian Alps stretch from the north
east of Italy to Slovenia and, as the
name suggests, are named after Julius
Caesar. A large part of the Julian Alps
is included within the Triglav National
Park, which contains Slovenia’s
highest mountain, Mt Triglav (2,864
metres). The best place from which
to explore this area is Bohinj, or to be
more precise one of the villages that lie
beside Lake Bohinj, e.g. Ribčev Laz.
Three species lilies are found in
Lilium carniolicum
the Triglav National Park: Lilium
carniolicum, Lilium martagon and
Lilium bulbiferum. However, when I first visited this area almost thirty years
ago my objective was to climb the highest mountains not to search for lilies of
which I knew nothing, although a brief encounter with what I now know was
L . carniolicum did stick in my mind. Almost thirty years later, in July 2010, I
decided to revisit the Triglav National Park to see if the added years would defeat
an attempt to climb Mt Triglav again and whether I could find flowering plants of
the species lilies that grow within the Park’s boundaries.
On the first day my route, through the Triglav National Park, would lead north
from the village of Ribčev Laz (the location of my hotel) up the Voje valley by way
of Vodnikov Dom (1,817 metres) and Dom Planika (2,401 metres), where I would
overnight. On the second day my route would take me to the top of Mt Triglav
(2,864 metres), then south west to a stark plateau called Hribarice and then down
into the valley of the Triglav lakes, then south east to the Komarca crag where
a steep descent would lead to the western end of Lake Bohinj and from there
I would travel east to Ribčev Laz (and my hotel). I should mention that a Dom
is a mountain hut, but not in the Spartan style of a typical bone-chillingly damp,
dank Scottish mountain bothy, but frequently in the style of an attractive hotel with
similar facilities.
On the first day of my foray into the Triglav National Park I set out from my
hotel at 7am. Impatient to get on I strode down to the lakeside, but then
my pace was slowed by the threads of early morning mist reflected in the still
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