Canberra's native wildflowers are springing to life despite the continual dry conditions, and the next few weeks are the best time to see them.
While they might not look as spectacular as some introduced varieties, more than 250 native flower species found in ACT grasslands have evolved over time with the Australian conditions.
"The natives are quite resilient to drought conditions, so a lot of them are still flowering, whereas a lot of the exotic grasses that we have so much trouble with are really not coming up this year," ACT Parks and Conservation Service ecologist Dr Brett Howland said.
"It's not as good a year as usual for wildflowers, but it's kind of a mixed blessing."
Dr Howland said wildflowers like early nancies and creamy candles had already finished flowering. Some others were still blooming, and in about a month's time, species like the blue devil would start to flower.
"The flowers come at different stages," he said.
"There's about a thre-month period where different species come online and offline, but the next couple of weeks is when most of the species overlap.
"Spring has that nice balance where it's getting a bit hotter but there's some moisture in the soil from winter rain, which gives them the best chance to grow."
For Canberrans who are keen to get out and see native wildflowers in bloom, Dr Howland has some recommendations.
"There are still some great places to go and check them out," he said.
"Kama Nature Reserve [near Hawker] has some great areas of native flowers. The Mulanggari grasslands [near Gungahlin] has some very nice patches.
"You'll see a mix of yellow, blue and pink."
While native wildflowers seem able to cope with dry conditions, they still need a helping hand.
Dr Howland said more than 99 per cent of south-east Australia's native grasslands had been lost in the past 200 years.
He said during that time, grazing sheep had treated native flowers "like icecream", while many exotic plants capable of outcompeting natives and favoured by fertiliser had been introduced.
The ACT Parks and Conservation Service has been working to tip the balance back in favour of native species in the past five years.
"We're dealing with these very novel landscapes now where almost half the diversity in our grasslands is exotic," Dr Howland said.
"We need to think about new tools and probably an old tool. Fire seems to be a really good way of re-tipping the balance."
Dr Howland said about 23 ecological burns had been carried out by the ACT Parks and Conservation Service in consultation with Murumbung rangers across more than 200 hectares of grassland in places like the West Jerrabomberra Nature Reserve.
"Our native grasses and forbs evolve with fire, and they do quite well with fire regimes, whereas a lot of the exotic species do not," he said.
"For example, burning in spring completely removes these annual grasses that can be so much of a problem, like wild oats. Wild oats can smother out native plants if left unchecked."
Dr Howland said in the two years following one of the spring ecological burns, there was a more than 100 per cent increase in native flora at West Jerrabomberra.
But he said fire was not always the best management tool, and strategies were dependent on specific environments and objectives.
