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| Hyacinth orchid |
There are many different microclimates on my 6 acre dry sclerophyll forest site. Moist gullies, some grassy open forest and the dry north facing ridge slope. This last one is where the orchids are thriving at the moment. My drive way is lined by orchids at the moment, I see a delightful avenue of them as I drive in and out.
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| Driveway on northfacing dry forest slope |
Most years the emerging shoots are nipped off by something. Probably Swamp wallabies and maybe Hares. The nips usually kill them but these have survived. These are near a wallaby track that crosses the road.
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| Pruned orchid with few flowers |
Maybe we have a shortage of Wallabies or Hares and thus an abundance of orchids. It's always so hard to know what causes an observation.
There are the dark stemmed
And the light stemmed.
What I find fascinating is that these plants are saprophytic, which means that because they don't have chlorophyll they live symbiotically with a nearby Eucalyptus tree/s via mycorrhizal fungi. Very clever. They can not be cultivated. I can't tell you how extraordinary and reassuring I find it that there are some things humans can't manipulate.
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