Near the German village of Doveren is a small wood that attracts far more attention in spring than its size might suggest. A blue carpet of flowers appears between the beech trees. The Wald der blauen Blumen takes its name from the bluebell, known in German as the Atlantisches Hasenglöckchen.
The species is called Hyacinthoides non-scripta. It generally flowers in April and May, although the exact timing depends on the spring weather. A date from a previous visit is no guarantee of finding the same scene the following year.
The contrast between the straight trunks and the low flowers makes the wood interesting to photograph. One layer provides rhythm, the other colour. A photograph of quite a small patch can suggest a much larger carpet of flowers. You do not always need to fit as much landscape as possible into the frame.
Leave the flowers beside the path
All that attention has a downside. Many visitors in a small area can soon lead to people trampling the places where the flowers grow. Kreis Heinsberg has therefore called for extra care to protect the plants and for visitors to stay on the marked paths.
You do not need to lie down among the flowers to take a photograph. A different viewpoint from the path, or a different focal length, may be enough. The patch flattened for a single shot will still be the wood’s problem afterwards.
A series of photographs cannot establish whether every plant in a population belongs to exactly the same botanical form. The name attached to a photo report is not enough for that.
Above all, this series shows why the wood is so popular during the flowering season. If you go yourself, follow the current signs and instructions on site. The blue carpet is the subject of the photograph; it is not a rug to plant your tripod in the middle of.
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