The array and numbers of wildflowers this spring and summer continues to astound me. Where in the past there have been small clumps of things like Blue Pincushions (above) and Vanilla-lilies, now there are swathes of them - in several places the Vanilla-lilies are in patches metres square. In past years I've had to go searching for them. Yes, the bushfire probably cleared the way for them to sprout but I suspect the huge amount of rain over winter and spring had a lot more to do with it.
Chocolate-lily - not very many of these. (The hyphen is used in my reference book -
Wildflowers of the Brisbane Ranges - Clive and Merle Trigg.)
These fringe-lilies are my favourites, mainly because of their colour and, well, the fringing!
I never get tired of trying to capture the perfect image of a vanilla-lily. In fact this flower is about the size of my smallest finger nail.
While slogging my way around attacking weeds, I've found some plants I've never seen before like this Everlasting.
I've been waging a huge battle over the past three months against a massive weed invasion (also an after effect of the bushfire). It seems that the bare ground was a big opportunity for the weeds to move in, especially because neither of my neighbours with paddocks seem to do any weed control. First it was a species of huge green thistle (not scotch thistle) with thick hollow stems, and now it's dandelions. Massive clumps of the things that are now starting to go to seed, so it's a fight to see who wins. I think they are! But I can't afford to give up.
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