This year's judas trees have rewarded us! 
This year's judas trees have rewarded us! Every year the so-called Judas trees bloom in May and give us beautiful pictures in our garden. 

This year we had plenty of time to enjoy them, they bloomed early at the beginning of May and their flowering lasted a long time due to the excellent weather during the Spring. 

Want to know more? read here:

1. Cercis siliquastrum

Koutsoupia, lat. Cercis siliquastrum, is also called cotsikas or cotsiki or Mamoukalia, or Judas Tree.
It is a particularly widespread tree of the Mediterranean and the Greek countryside that stands out every spring in the fields with its dense purple flowers. Koutsoupia is a deciduous tree that reaches a height of five meters.
Koutsoupia is a plant that existed since ancient times in all the states of the Mediterranean. Its scientific name, Cercis siliquastrum, was derived from the word Kerkis, a part of the loom, which in ancient times was made from Koutsoupias wood!

The flowers of Koutsoupia are eaten raw but also in salads or preserved in vinegar, as long as they have been washed very well!

2. The Judas Tree

There is a myth that Judas Iscariot hanged himself from a tree of this species, causing its white flowers to turn red. This belief is related to the common name "Judas tree", which is possibly a corrupted derivation from the French common name, Arbre de Judée, meaning tree of Judea, referring to the hilly regions of that country where the tree used to be common. Another possible source for the vernacular name is the fact that the flowers and seedpods can dangle direct from the trunk in a way reminiscent of Judas's possible method of suicide. The sacred texts of the Testament state that Judas was finally hanged on a fig tree, at which point the name was abolished.