Blooming amongst the 100-metre patch of otherwise bare, red dirt are hundreds of wreath flowers, which have seemingly popped up out of nowhere.
Wreath flowers, or lechenaultia macrantha, only grow in three or four parts of the world and usually only in small patches.
But here, in this very particular spot at Pindar, some 500 kilometres north of Perth, the unusual flower grows in spectacular abundance every August and September.
Local artist Helen Ansell, who runs a gallery at the nearby town of Mullewa, visits the wreath flowers every year.
“They are amazing, so fluffy and colourful and beautiful, just growing in this bare, barren ground,” Ansell said.
“You can see why they’re called wreath flowers, because they look just like a man-made wreath that has been laid on the side of the road.
“I remember when my mother in law first saw them, she actually thought there had been an accident, and someone had laid wreaths on the side of the road.”
A nine-month drought last year meant this year’s crop of wreath flowers was slightly smaller than usual and somewhat delayed, Ansell said.
“Sometimes they can be flowering as early as May, whereas this year, they have really only just reached their full potential now,” she said.
“On a good year, we can get 1000 of them. Right now there aren’t quite as many, but there are still a few hundred, which is amazing.”
A deluge of rain in July, which saw a year’s worth of rainfall in one month, saved not only the wreath flowers but this year’s wildflower season and made it one of the best ever, Ansell said.
“We’ve still got carpets of yellow and white and pink flowers, and there’s still a lot to see. We’re definitely having a longer season than normal.”
According to Mullewa Visitors Centre, the wreath flower still remains somewhat of a mystery to botanists, who are yet to figure out how to propagate the plants.
The wreath flower is a perennial, and lies unnoticed for most of the year several metres under the roadside, before popping up in Spring to become a star tourist attraction.
But it’s only been in the last decade that these flowers have appeared in this location.
About 10 years ago, a happy accident led to the current crop being transported to the stretch of road, Ansell said.
“They used to grow in this spot called the gravel pit, and then some road workers used some of the gravel from there to fix up this patch of road, and unbeknownst to them, must have spawned some leaf flowers, and now they absolutely love this new spot of road,” she said.
In peak season, hundreds of tourists a day visit the site to see the wreath flowers, with some even travelling from overseas, Ansell said.
This post was originally published on here
