It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a blog entry – I’m enjoying reading Tiffany’s posts too much to write my own (!) but I thought it was well and truly time…
Although it’s been raining and/or cloudy lately, there’s definitely the feel of spring in the air around the southwest. There’s real warmth in the sun, and flowers starting to bloom in gardens and the bush alike. This is one of my favourite times of year, with the cold windy days and overcast skies interspersed with days of crisp sunny mornings, calm seas and blue skies.
It seems to have been a bumper season for weeds, so make sure you check out any planting or revegetation sites that you worked on earlier winter, and be ready to take care of them before they take care of all your hard work.
If you’ve driven to Perth along the Forrest Highway lately, you wont have been able to miss the fantastic display the wattles (species from the Acacia genus) have been putting on. Their distinctive yellow flowers and sweet scent provide a real sense of place – you know you’re in Australia when you’re surrounded by wattles! I remember visiting Kew gardens just outside of London once, at the end of a long overseas trip. It wasn’t until I unknowingly walked past a flowering wattle in one of the displays and was hit by that completely unique scent that I realised I was homesick.
Acacia pulchella covers this site in Forrestdale, apparently colonising thickly after fire. (Photo sourced from Tom M Wilson)
Although generally short-lived, wattles are often used in revegetation as they ‘fix’ nitrogen back into the soil, is essence preparing it for a wider variety of species to be planted or to naturally regenerate. Most wattles in our region flower from winter into spring; they almost herald the changing of the season. It’s also interesting to walk through the bush when the wattles are in flower – I find they allow you to see much more ‘deeply’ into the bush that you usually do, when everything is different shades of green, or even when other plants are in flower. The splashes of bright yellow provide a strong contrast and can be seen from a long way off.
As spring comes, I’ll be adding more photos to the Cape to Cape flowers gallery, to showcase the incredibly diverse and beautiful flora of this part of the southwest. Maybe one day I’ll start galleries for the flowers of the jarrah forest, banksia woodland or tuart forest – all equally as beautiful – but for now, I’ll stick with focusing on the Cape to Cape.
That’s a wrap. Until next time…
