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Wildflowers in Western Australia
There are many species of unique wildflowers in Western Australia (W.A.). Especially, southern-western part of W.A. is called South West Botanical Province, and there are many native species. Generally speaking, best season to see wildflowers is from September to October, spring in the Southern Hemisphere. It seems that the climate of this area is resemble to the one of South Africa. So, there are some naturalized plants which are from South Africa. We, my wife and I, made a trip to Western Australia in Octorer f99 to see wildflowers. Wefd like to introduce wildflowers which we saw at that time. Our schedule of the trip was fallowings.
Perth, Brookton-Hwy, Cranbrook, Mt. Barker, Denmark, Yallingup, Perth
Let me know, your suggestions, comments, or if you found mistakes of flower names, send me(Tajima) by e-mail.
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Brookton Hwy Starling Range is one of famous places to see wildflowers. By Albany Hwy, we can go to Starling Rang directly from Perth, but to see wildflowers of roadside, we took Brookton Hwy. Driving into Brookton Hwy, it spreads dense forest there, along the roadside there were lot of yellow, blue wildflowers. We could see Blue Lechenautias brightly while we drove at 100Km/h. Later half of Brookton Hwy, there expands calm rolling hills, but it seems that there are less wildflowers. Flowers:Blue Lechenaultia, Cotton tops,Slender Tetratheca, Prickly Hakea, Trigger-plant, Buttercups |
 Red line above is the place where are rich wildflowers in Starling Range |
Stirling
Range,Cranbrook Area Stirling Range is one of famous places to see wildflowers in W.A. Our main destination of this trip was Stirling Range, but unfortunately when we arrived there, it started heavy rain, so we took only a few pictures there. So we had to go back to Cranbrook, Cranbrook is a gateway to Stirling Range. There held e99 Wildflower Display from 25th Sept. to 10th Oct. Many precious flowers were displayed there. We are introduces a field where there are plenty of wildflowers near the exhibition. When we visit the field, we found many wildflowers there. We are impressed by findind many White-Spider-Orchid there. Red-Lechenaultia, Purple Enamelled Orchid, Creeping Banksia, Cats-Paw, Donkey Orchid, Vanilla Lily, Sundrews, White Spider Orchid, Milk-maids, |
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Mt. Barker,
Denmark Area Mt. Barker is a gateway town to Starling Range and Polongup National Parks. This is not a topics of wildflower, Mt. Barker is also famous for good wines, during the visit we dropped in wineries(Goundry, Plantage-net) there. On the way to Denmark from Mt. Barker, we found a lot of Southern-Cross flowers at roadside. |
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Warpole Area Near the Vally of Giants is timberland of Tingle trees and this area is prevailed upon by the wettest climate in W.A. There is the Tree Top Walk at the Vally of Giants. We are able to have birdfs eye view of big trees from there. Pink Petticoats, Clematis Pubescens, Tassel Flower, Heart-leaved Flame Pea, Native Iris |
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Yallingup area Yallingup faces to Indian Ocean, and is famous surfing point in Australia. If you are going to drive this area in the night, take care to kangaroos jumping out. One of famous wildflowers in W.A. is Red-and-Green-Kangaroo-paw, but we could not see wild R&G-Kangaroo-paw yet. When we drove from Busselton to Yallingup, suddenly this bright red and green caught my eyes. The photo left is elegant B&B in Yallingup where we stayed. You can see the fences around the young trees, this is protecting leaves from kangaroo. Near this B&B, there is a gallery, Yallingup Gallery, where many sprendid works of W.A.fs artists are displayed. Yallingup is near Margret River, and there are many good wineries in Yallingup area, we visited good winery & restaurant there. Red-and-Green Kangaroo-paw, Cowslip Orchid, Freesia, Zantedeschia |
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Perth Area From Yallingup to Perth, there is a historical port city, Fremantle. There are many good restaurants and shops in Fremantle. Kings Park is situated at the hill of good city view in Perth. There held the e99 Wildflower festival on 17th/Sept to 27th/Sept. Unfortunately we couldnft see the festival. |