Some "Spring" flowers

Yes, it is still two days until Spring arrives but we had an overnight minimum well above freezing, and have had some rain recently, so i think it is close to Spring.  I was also able to find quite a few flowering plants on a stroll round the block this morning.  (This doesn't include Wattles: they will get featured on Monday.)

Rather than building tension as I usually do, here is the big ticket item up front.  The first orchid of the season, in Cyanicula caerulea - the blue not-caladenia.
The growth in numbers of plants here is interesting (and may be the subject of a separate post).  By 1 September we were up to 15 plants.  Some of them were growing quite happily under the Kunzea ericoides.
In terms of members of the family Fabaceae (aka beans) the only representative I found - and in very good and widely distributed numbers - was Hovea heterophylla.
For reasons that are not at all apparent to me Hardenbergia violacea has become a tad hard to find on the block in recent years.

The only 'heath' - in the sense of member of the Epacridaceae - I could find was the ubiquitous Melicrus urceolatus.
However on 1 September I came across a nice colony of Leucopogon virgatus.
In the grassy bits there were many Wurmbea dioica the Just-on-time Nancy.  This is a Nancy boy (note the anthers rather than the large ring) ...
  .. and here is a Nancy-girl showing her style.
 This is Clematis leptophylla - I think a boy.
 Although this looks like a heath it is in fact a member of the family Rhamnaceae.  Why Cryptandra amara associates with undesirables like Pomaderris is a total mystery to me!


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