Walking around Lake Leschenaultia in October. There is a lake, and there is the blue-flowered leschenaultia.
There was a lot of blue out, actually. The Thelymitra orchids or Blue Sun orchids were showing their faces anywhere that the sun shone (erratic), the blue lily that looks very similar was growing here and there, and there was these guys. I’m not sure what they are, four symmetric petals with assymmetric central colouring, presumably something from the Goodenaceae (same family as Scaevola and the Leschenaultia).
I much prefer the white Pimelea to the pink one that gets sold all over the place. What I want for my garden though is the yellow one.
There are what, 400 species of peaflower in this state? One day I will revise my knowledge of them but it’s not now. I just remember that they’re almost all poisonous (hello, 1080) and make fun of their “faces”.
Another pea flower. This one appears to be leafless at first glance, with many flowers on each of several reed-like stems.
Ooh, an Astroloma! These are a bush food – they have an edible berry that’s supposed to be quite nice. They are one of the plants I have in the back of my mind for learning to propagate as a potential commercial proposition. People are always interested in bush foods and this is a much prettier plant than mondo grass.
I have no idea what these are. I know that I did once know, but other than noticing that they all hang upside down and they’re not fuzzy, my memory is quite blank. Quite colourful though.
This is not the Snake Bush I best know, but I think it must be in the same genus. The flowers are identical in shape and size, white instead of purple but they have the same lines of spots. Those spots and petals look quite different in the UV spectrum, and bees and insects see the spots as “landing lights” to find their way straight in. The flowers may seem plain to us, but it’s flashy neon-bright advertising for eyeballs that see a different spectrum.
Flower spikes from one of the bloodroots. Another bush food I’d like to grow, the roots are edible (if a bit hot). I like these for the flowers though, small, shiny and black, and pollinated exclusively by native bees (European honeybees can’t work out how to get in).
One more of the many pea flowers I saw. This is one of the coral peas, with pink centres to the orange flowers. I loved the way the vine had drifted over the ground but put flower stalks straight up in a floating field of nodding colour.
AgriTapestry 