"They are so endless." Edward Lear, 24 May, 1856
This website has been set up to record the extraordinary abundance of flowers on the island of Corfu. The flowers are displayed in family order, grouped according to botanical systematics - see below..
If you would like to add to our database please send an image of the flower to info@corfuflowers.com together with its Latin and English names (if known), the date photographed and where it was seen. Your name will appear against the photograph if you so wish.
During an eight-day walk along the length of the Corfu Trail 150 different flowers were photographed by local author John Waller. Those images are displayed on these pages and were taken in a variety of locations along the Corfu Trail, ranging from coastal sand dunes in the south to mountain ridges in the north. (Click here to view a map of the Corfu Trail and descriptions of the sections walked each day.) The same flowers can be found in abundance across the island and are mainly in bloom from March to early June, and again in September and October. Another notable area of botanical interest is the British Cemetery in Corfu Town which contains over 30 different orchids.
John Waller was born within sight of the ‘continent’ on the hills above Hythe in Kent, six weeks before the Dunkirk evacuation of British, French, Belgian and Canadian troops. After Cambridge University, he trained as an engineer at IBM and set up and ran a successful computer company in 1969. In 1970, he and his Danish wife Jannie built a minute house in Corfu, where he wrote eight non-fiction books, two stage plays and a screen play after his retirement in 1999. He was Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Twickenham in 1979, 1983 and 1987. John and Jannie cruised the world: to Japan and back; around South America; to the US, Mexico and up the Amazon; to Scandinavia and Russia; to New Zealand via South Africa and back via India.
John sent his first book to 99 agents. 98 said "No"; one said "Self-publish" and Yiannis Books was born.
Cabbage, Fumitory,
St. John’s Wort, Joint Pine,
Beech, Pink,
Poppy, Saxifrage
Mallow, Pea,
Rockrose,
Wood Sorrel,
Spurge
Bindweed,
Borage, Carrot,
Figwort, Heath,
Mint, Primrose
Broomrape, Daisy,
Honeysuckle, Valerian
Iris,
Lily
The Corfu
Trail
