Heavy summer rain and devastating floods across southern Western Australia have left an unexpected legacy — an early start to what is expected to be a bumper wildflower season.
Towns across the Southern Wheatbelt, Great Southern, South West and South East Coastal regions were left with multi-million dollar damage bills after unseasonable storms dumped hundreds of millimetres of rain over a single weekend in February.
Ravensthorpe, 526km south-east of Perth, was particularly hard hit, cut off in both directions due to flood damage to the South Coast Highway.
But as the months-long clean-up continues, Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show and Spring Festival co-ordinator Sue Leighton said the unseasonal rain appeared to have jump-started the region's flora.
"I've seen orchids up a lot earlier than they should be, and they're holding up pretty well," Ms Leighton said.
"It's quite amazing. You normally don't see them for another three or four weeks.
"A friend who lives out in the sand plain area says everything is full of flower … we're really excited about what's going to happen."
Flowers could provide tourism boost in tough year
Along with the Fitzgerald River National Park, the annual wildflower season is one of Ravensthorpe's biggest tourist attractions, culminating in the wildflower show in September.
"People head north for the winter then start heading down this way," Ms Leighton said.
"As far as diversity of wildflowers goes, we've got heaps more than up north."
With the region's economy hit by the combination of floods and a significant lack of rain since then, she said the positive effect, though small, was welcome.
"In many ways it probably washed away a lot of the mulch, which blocks the smaller plants and means they don't tend to get enough sunlight," Ms Leighton said.
"When they grade the sides of the road, you get a lot of opportunistic plants popping up, so I'm very excited to see what comes of that."
Photographer noticing the difference
Further north at Ongerup, photographer Terry Dunham has also reaped the benefits of the early rain.
Spending time in the bush surrounding the Great Southern town in search of the perfect shots, Mr Dunham said he had noticed an increase in orchids and hakea in particular.
"We've got a bit of a hotspot in Ongerup, but rainfall is always going to be a big factor," he said.
But with the region's farmers still largely struggling for rain since February, he said he was puzzled by some of the growth.
"It's one extreme to the other. I expect some of the wildflowers have gone into survival mode," Mr Dunham said.
"The weather bureau must be scratching their heads."
