From spring until late autumn, the meadows, clearings and forest edges around Brebu Nou and Gărâna turn into a succession of colours and scents. Altitude, soil and the mountain climate create the conditions for one of the richest flora in the Mountainous Banat.
Spring begins with the snowdrops, which sometimes push up from beneath the snow, followed by crocuses, violets and anemones. As the days warm, the meadows are covered in a carpet of colour that lasts well into midsummer.
Summer is the season of the wild orchids. On the sunny meadows grow species such as the pyramidal orchid and the early-purple orchid, alongside bellflowers, daisies and the yellow blooms of St John’s wort and mullein. Many of them are protected species that must not be picked.
Among the wildflowers grow the mountain’s aromatic herbs: wild thyme, St. John’s wort, wild mint and oregano. In spring and summer, the meadows are coloured by heartsease, mountain sorrel, wild parsley and wild strawberries, while on the ridges of the Semenic Mountains blooms the gentian, one of the region’s emblematic plants. The area is also home to the Banat yellow flax, a rare endemic species of the Mountainous Banat.
