This wildflower season I have stayed local due to travel restrictions, which has meant I have walked the Illawarra escarpment a lot more than I normally would. Usually in the winter wildflower season we would travel to the Blue mountains or further west or even north for outdoor adventuring and bush exploring. So it has been a nice change to notice more closely the bush at my back door.

This post is just a sample of the glory on offer, above you can see Boronia pinnata in full bloom, there is a stand of these as you walk along the top of the escarpment from Stanwell Park to Sublime Point and the smell is well …’Sublime’

Boronia pinnata is loved by bees as well as humans but in my opinion is best admired in the bush rather than battling to grow it at home.

A little further done the track were plenty of Sun Orchids or Thelymitra ixioides, these seem to pop their pretty heads up out of seemingly dry rocky soil.

The wedding Bush or Ricinocarpos pinifolius is also having a wonderful flowering season, I spotted it in Maddens Plains, Kellys Falls, Robertson Lookout and Dark’s Forest, it really is the purest white and the picture of innocence 😉

This shrub is worth a trying to grow yourself, it likes great drainage and a full sun to part shade position and it should reward you with a stunning flower display from Winter through to Spring.

Bauera rubioides of course is everywhere, what a wonderful wildflower! it flowers for a long time and is quite common, unfortunately it is another one that can be difficult to grow in a home garden as it requires steady moisture on a well drained sandstone 🤔

Epacris microphylla is a dainty scrambling low shrub which can flower for much of the year and as long as it doesn’t dry out completely is a rewarding wildflower to try in your garden.

I have found Epacris microphylla easier to grow then longiflora but not as easy as impressa, what is your experience with growing Epacris?

This specimen of Hakea sericea was in Darks Forest, this is a fantastic habitat shrub and caters for many different birds, not to mention the bees. Watch out as it is super prickly but always so spectacular when in flower.

This is my favourite wildflowerof the Illawarra, Phebalium squamulosum now this could be a sub species I am not sure. There are quite a few variations of the species and they can look different depending where they grow. The Phevalium above was growing 20kms from the one below….

Phebalium is also one of my favourite understory plants to use in native garden design, it is very versatile and quite forgiving as long as you don’t over water it!

And last but not least the Flannel Flower, these are not really that common in the Illawarra so when you see them it is pretty special. Lucky for us they are easy to grow in your garden and well worth a try as a first time wildflower grower. I am very thankful to live in such a beautiful and unique part of the world and lucky to have the time to observe it in more detail, happy wandering everyone!