The valley of wild tulips requires protection

Just 30 kilometers away from Lviv, in a water meadow between Dnister and Rybnytsia rivers lies a unique place: a valley of wild tulips. Unlike the Transcarpathian valley of the narcissi, which is more popular, not even all residents of Lviv oblast know about this place, let alone other Ukrainians. And it is truly breathtaking in these April days.

Just meters away from the international speedway Lviv-Chop, near the village of Naditychi, Mykolaiv raion, you find yourself in a genuine fairy tale, where delicate deep red flowers bow their heads to the ground. Since wild tulips are of such a protective color, this valley is not so conspicuous from the distance as the one with white narcissi, but when you come closer and inhale this first smell of spring, you feel that the Creator revealed His power here too...

Wild tulip is a rare, endangered plant. It blooms in early and mid-April. It is smaller than a regular tulip. Besides the dark red, you can also spot white, yellow, light pink, or dotted white flowers, but they are very rare.

At the moment, this valley of wild tulips is wild, that is, there is no tourism infrastructure and protection of plants. Anyone can come and pick these tender flowers. They appear on markets in Lviv every now and then. But they should not: wild tulips wither very fast, so while environment protectors and other responsible structures did not start acting, Lviv dwellers started a real campaign in protection of these plants on Facebook: they urge not to buy them, shame sellers and carry out educational work among them, and just give the money for those desperately in need, without buying the flowers. The local farmers should hear over and over again that grass must not be burned in these unique meadows (it is done every spring so the hay would grow better). In the places where dry grass was not burnt, tulips do grow better.