Categories
- Community Gardening (8)
- Competitions (21)
- Compost, Soil, Mulch & Fertilisers (17)
- Container Gardening (12)
- Garden Tools (33)
- Gardening (156)
- Gardening Books & Gifts (15)
- Gardening Tips & Ideas (28)
- Gardens (8)
- Home Garden (36)
- Landscaping (58)
- Organic Gardening (23)
- Pests & Plant Diseases (16)
- Plants (24)
- Annuals, Shrubs & Perennials (13)
- Bulbs, Corms, Rhizomes & Tubers (11)
- Cactus & Succulents (12)
- Climbers & Creepers (2)
- Ferns & Shade Lovers (4)
- Flowers (37)
- Fruit & Berries (15)
- Fungi, Mushrooms & Toadstools (4)
- Grasses & Groundcovers (3)
- Hedges & Screening Plants (3)
- Herbs & Vegetables (21)
- Indoor & Tropical Plants (7)
- Native Plants & Wildflowers (14)
- Roses (1)
- Trees & Conifers (28)
- Weeds (8)
Wild Wildflowers
Last spring I took my two boys, J (10) and L (5) camping to an area south of Margaret River. It's a camping spot that you can only get to via 4WD during the drier months and is even less accessible during winter. Fortunately my '75 Kombi van had enough clearance to pick its way through the rocky outcrops and we made it in.
This camping spot is very isolated and not many people know about it so needless to say you very rarely have to share it with anyone. Alas, this weekend a 4WD club had decided to use it as a weekend vantage point and while they were noisy during the evenings they were out all day 4WDing.
We weren't as mobile, although we had taken our bikes, and it gave us a great chance to explore the forest and see some of the wonderful wildflowers that were erupting en masse through the undergrowth. Wildflowers such as donkey and spider orchids, acacia, and hardenbergia littered the forest floor and were amazing to find.
Here are some of the pictures (please forgive the lack of short depth of field on this tinny little digital camera).
Donkey Orchids
Commonly known as 'Egg & Bacon Plant"
A low growing acacia
An unknown climber - perhaps some sort of clematis
Grass trees - we once called these 'Black Boys' but that's politically incorrect now.
Spider Orchids
Hardenbergia
A garden aspect
These articles may also be helpful...
Who's responsible for this...?
Get fresh posts in your Inbox
Recent Posts
My Other Blogs
Gardening Blogs
Australia & NZ
- A Grower's Delight [ACT, AUS]
- Balcony Flowers [WA, AUS]
- Frog Garden [QLD, AUS]
- Greenfoot [AUS]
- Outdoor Living Authority [Tas, AUS]
Canada
UK
USA
- A Study in Contrasts [OH, US]
- Angela's Garden Blog [CA, US]
- Cold Climate Gardening [US]
- Color's of the Garden [NY, US]
- Garden Djinn [MI, US]
- Gotta Garden [VA, US]
- In The Garden Online [MI, US]
- Katina's Little Gardeners [OH, USA]
- May Dreams Gardens [IN, US]
- North Country Maturing Gardener [NH, USA]
- The Garden Blog [SC, US]
- The Blogging Nurseryman [CA, US]
- The Transplantable Rose [TX, US]
- This Garden Is Illegal [OH, USA]
- Veggie Gardening Tips [PY, USA]
- Garden Rant [US]
- Gardening Launching Pad [Garden Blog Directory]
Comments
What beautiful flowers you saw on your camping trip Stuart. Sounds like great fun. You have some interesting wild flowers. It's good to see them again. Seeing the wattle makes me think of the wattle song...now I'll probably sing it in my head all day! :)
Posted by: kerri | May 21, 2006 8:03 PM
Hi Stuart,
The last time we visited Margaret River it was a 'Surfie' hot spot! We loved the isolation and back tracks that we took. Some lovely wild flowers along the bush tracks and many memorable slides which we viewed often.
It does look like a Clematis and the last one looks like Pimelea.
Posted by: Corinne | May 24, 2006 9:23 PM
Kerri,
These wildflowers are so exquisite especially when you consider the other vegetation that surrounds it. These were all found in the undergrowth of some amazing Karri trees.
A David and Goliath picture.
Posted by: Stuart | May 25, 2006 1:05 PM
I adore grass trees but have never seen any so tall. Did you read that the Queen was giving a grass tree by the Aussie winners at the Chelsea Garden Show? I was told they were rather difficult to grow, but I guess HRH has enough gardeners to monitor them around the clock!
A 75 Kombi in an isolated camping spot?? You ARE brave!
Posted by: Val | May 28, 2006 3:47 PM
I know - they're huge aren't they. It was just amazing to stumble upon this little grove of them.
The 75 Kombi is a little tragic but the beauty of these vans is that they are so easy to fix. And while this spot is fairly isolated the ranger comes around every day to check out the spot and get people to pay their fees.
Posted by: Stu | May 29, 2006 8:25 PM
Lovely flower pictures ..
Thanks for sharing..
Nutmeg
Posted by: Nutmeg | June 25, 2006 3:37 AM