Wildflowers at Mount Frankland can be found blooming throughout the whole year, as different flowers bloom at different times of the year. We found Mount Frankland National Park quite abundant in wildflowers when we visited it early January. Below are some of the wildflowers we have seen and photographed.
Top image: Tattered Trigger Plant (Stylidium laciniatum)
Below left: Bull Banksia Banksia grandis. Below middle: Candle-spike Hakea Hakea ruscifolia. Below right: Fly-away Trigger Plant Stylidium caespitosum.
Bluff Knoll is the third highest mountain peak in Western Australia and is the highest in Stirling Range
Stirling Range NP is one of the best places in Western Australia for hiking, as well as to view wildflowers. Over 1500 species of plants grow there, with some plants not existing anywhere else in the world. Some plants are easy to spot and they are quite abundant. Others are rare and threatened flora and very hard to find, as it is protected. Certain types of wildflowers, like mountain bells, only grow in altitudes higher than 300 meters above sea level.
Bluff Knoll flora
The plants below were all photographed while climbing Bluff Knoll hiking trail.
I found these wildflowers in Stirling Range National Park in places, other than Bluff Knoll. We stayed at Stirling Range Retreat, where a lot of orchids, as well as other plants grow.
Ellis Brook Valley Reserve is recognised as the richest wildflower location in Perth Metropolitan area. It is home to over 550 varieties of spring flowers.
Wildflowers at Ellis Brook Valley Reserve
The best time to visit the park is during spring when most of the widlflowers are blooming. It can be very hot in summer and sometimes the park is closed during hottest time.
One of the most fascinating wildflowers in Ellis Brook Valley Reserve for me was Drosera. It is the plant that loves insects and insects love this plant :). Drosera (or Sundews) capture and digest insects using their long tentacles with a sticky gland on top. These droplets look like dew glistening in the sun (hence the name Sundew). They are very pretty to human eye, and attractive to insects. The glands also produce enzymes to digest the insects. How creative nature can be!
The reserve is home to a lof of birds, including splendid fairy wrens, cockatoos and honeyeaters.
Walking trails
Ellis Brook Valley Reserve is also an excellent hiking place. There are four hiking trails of various length and difficulty. Reserve also has picnic facilities with bbqs, picnic tables and toilets (toilets are only at Honeyeater Hollow carpark).
Sixty Foot Falls trail might be short (only 2km loop) but it is the most challenging due to steep climb. But it is definitely worth the view from the top, as well as the journey. It looked quite magnificent in September with the water flowing at the waterfall. The trail starts and finishes at Valley Head car park.
Blue Wren Ramble trail is an easy 2.8 return hike from Honeyeater Hollow or Valley Head car park. It is the best hike to view bunny orchids, as well bird life, as the name suggests.
Eagle View trail is an easy and short trail, accessible form Honeyeater Hollow carpark. It provides good view of the swam coastal plain. Beautiful Verticordia acerosa and donkey orchids can be found along the trail.
There is also an easy 500 meter loop walk trail through the wandoo woodlands from the Honeyeater Hollow carpark.
Location
Ellis Brook Valley is located on Rushton Road in the suburb of Martin, in the Gosnells region and is half an hour drive from Perth. The opening hours are from 6am to 7pm daily, excluding those days when there is total fire ban. Entry to Ellis Brook Valley reserve is free.
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