Wildflowers au Natural

Sunday was overcast (as was the whole past week!). Despite rumours of spring, the weather continues to be wet and cool. But for photoing flowers overcast is fine and the rain did not interfere with our weekend plans, so we can't complain really.

Once again we lucked out and found a wonderful tea house for breakfast in Toodyay. They also happened to have a photo exhibit of orchids, and the photographer popped in when we were there. We were not sure where to head to best see the flowers - although I had been hoping to see fields of everlastings, we discovered that you need to drive pretty far north to see that. We had a few recommendations of good areas, but kismet intervened. The photographer turned out to be part owner of a vineyard where they have discovered several varieties of orchids. They are in the process of developing both the vineyard and the botanical park. They were just up the road, and open today for tours of the wild orchids. So our day was set!

On the drive out we did manage to find everlastings mixed in with the forest on the hillside (at right above) and other wildflowers (sample left above) - still very pretty.

Since the Mt. Vernon Estate & Botanical Park is just in formation, we were one of only a handful of visitors. And it was just as well that we had a guide, since we would have missed most of the orchids. The two more obvious ones are the cowslip orchid (yellow at left) and the blue china orchid (at right).

The owners are hoping to have the area zoned as protected due to the variety of orchids on the property. At least 2 of the species are rare orchids. A botanist from Kings Park is due to visit the property to identify some of the species. Even as we were hiking around we managed to spot an orchid or two which they had not yet mapped. They are very hard to spot to the untrained eye - they are mostly very small and blend in very well with the surrounding vegetation.

While many of the orchids look similar, on closer inspection you see that they are in fact different. The spider orchids come in several flavours. There are bearded and smooth varieties as well as colour variations. At the very left is a bearded and beside it is a smooth. The grouping of 5 above are dark tipped spider orchids. At right below is an antelope orchid.

The kangaroos are a mixed blessing. The orchids mostly occur close to the kangaroo paths. It is believed the roos carry the seeds and necessary fungus for the orchid to grow on their fur which then gets rubbed off into the nearby vegetation. But the roos also trod on and eat the orchids. Given the amount of damage they do, the owners hope to erect a fence around the property to keep the roos out and to protect the orchids.

The other two photos here are spider orchids also I believe, but not sure of the specific species. The red one was especially interesting. And despite not investing in a 'macro' lens, I think Mike did a respectable job of capturing the flowers.

And so having had our fill of fine food, monastic relics, raging bonfires, good company, orchids and wild scenery, we headed back home. And as Kyle put it on the drive home "That was a good weekend guys - thanks".