A beautiful day for wildflower spotting as we repeated last year’s slow saunter along the Ted’s track extension with 30 eager souls and clipboards in hand.
How important to keep recording the changes in wildflowers from one year to the next and wonder at the many blue plants this year on our track.
Our wonderful migrant family from Aireys Inlet scooped up Margaret’s challenge sheets and set off to find as many plants as possible.
Springtime is so special for the variety of colour of the tiny flowers amongst the flowering grass trees. White Milkmaids lord over the happy yellow of Hibbertia and Goodenias, contrasting with the bright blueness of Twining Fringe-lilies and Blue Pincushions dancing amongst flowering Mat-rushes. Lilies of chocolate variety always demand attention, as who can resist such an enticing scent?!
Personally, a Horny Cone-bush always attracts my fingers to feel its general spiky demeanour. The Love Creeper in its bracken pocket greatly spiked the imagination of Ross, while with the pea family always causing confusion, we needed expertise to distinguish the showy red/orange Dillwynia from the yellow large bush pea Pultenaea. A few coastal cyan blue fan flowers and jaunty red running postmen served to focus our attention again at ground level.
Then the welcome distraction of the showy orchids …sometimes I feel the names are as entrancing as the flowers!! From thick lips to pink fingers, large spiders and donkeys and blue multiheaded sun orchids they can sometimes, at a distance cause confusion with native bluebells and yam daisies.
Our list was long by the time lunch time on a log greeted us with a real profusion of salmon sun orchids and still we discovered more treasures on the meander back.
It is wonderful to meet new friends and see young people so entranced by the diversity of the Anglesea wildflower show treasure on this very treasured land of the Wadawurrung people. We are so blessed to have Margaret, Keith, Alison and Kaye to guide us through this wonderland.
Lesley Cadzow