Flowering season 2024
Permission for commercial or professional photo shoots, with or without models, or film recordings must be requested via the box office. In the Hallerbos you must always stay on the paths, also when taking pictures and filming. The soil and vegetation are fragile and very sensitive to trampling.
The use of drones is not allowed in the forest.
It is now planting time in the forest. The ‘Prima La Musica forest’, which the planting along Lorkendreef started last year, is being completed. In the meantime, the beautiful female flowers of the hazel, with their red stigmas, can also be seen. That’s really a sign that spring is coming. The first leaves of the bluebells pierce through the dead beech leaves. The snowdrops also have narrow leaves with a hard top and can pierce through the frozen soil and leaves. Fortunately, they can withstand a layer of snow and the frost that will certainly strike again. They can withstand temperatures down to -30°C, thanks to homemade ‘antifreeze’ in their leaves. Starch from the bulb is converted into sugars that act as ‘antifreeze’ in the leaves. As they flower so early, snowdrops do not rely on pollinators to reproduce. Instead, they spread via bulb division. That is why they are often found so close together. However, they may still be visited by bumblebees and other insects on a particularly warm day.
Wow! A thick carpet of snow in the forest. That was more than 10 years ago. Wonderful to take a walk in the woods. The male catkins of the hazel tree will have to wait a little longer to bloom.