[Photos] Koondoola and wildflowers.

[moonvoice]

There was a massive fire earlier this year that devastated the Koondoola bushland,
and unfortunately it hasn't been recovering very well at all.
Still, during our hike, we did find some signs of endemic and local herbaceous natives,
even amongst the carpet of wild gladiolus.
People often love the latter, but it's an invasive pest, and can be legally pulled up.


Podotheca gnaphaliodes along Alexander Drive. Also known as 'golden long-heads.'






These are only in about peak flower for about a week, before they start to fade (though they do yellow everything up for about three weeks). We caught them in peak flower easily, since we have wild ones in our own back yard.









Koondoola devastated by fire - It looks green, but the shrub understorey is virtually gone and almost all of the grasses are feral weeds, choking out natives.





Native wild violets alongside feral wild gladiolus





A carpet of wild gladiolus





Home between two branches









A small stand of catspaw - related to the kangaroo paw.





Anigozanthus menziesii - Kangaroo Paw





Burchardia bairdiae - Milkweed





Dampiera alata





Myriocephalus helichrysoides





Rainbow Lorikeets - both colourful and very noisy.

Comments

[jensurvivor]

People go to silly lengths to grow Glads here (they won't survive the winter so they must be dug up, put into storage, and replanted in the spring).

[snellosaurus]

I love seeing your photos after going for walks. It's cool the way you highlight things most people walk right past without even thinking and show how beautiful they are.

I'm glad the spider web photo came out, it looks awesome. Much like all the others.

^_^

[silverjackal]

Heh. Your second photo, the sand reminded me of snow (as we are getting into that time of year!). I particularly like the Dampiera alata and the Native wild violets for their colour, but the symmetry and complexity of the Myriocephalus helichrysoides is exquisite!

The photo of the Rainbow Lorikeets made me laugh. I've worked with the little buggers in captivity, and my goodness, they are *loud*. And so very quick and active. Thank you for sharing the photos! :)

[paleo]

I love seeing pictures of flower season from different places. It's so interesting to see what colors Nature "chooses" for different areas.

That's a shame about invasive plants taking over before the native ones have a chance to grow back. I wonder if goats could help? In the US there has been some success with temporarily bringing goats to an area who do a good job off stripping plants down, roots and all, and then reseeding the place with native species.