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LEFT IN THEIR NATURAL STATE

THERE has been a fair bit of traipsing into the bushland behind our place to check on the flowering of these ironbark orchids. My partner ha...


THERE has been a fair bit of traipsing into the bushland behind our place to check on the flowering of these ironbark orchids. My partner has been heading into the hills (literally) every couple of days to report on their development and has dragged all but one member of the family to see them. They're spent now, after about a fortnight - maybe less - of flowering.

Interestingly, as they came into flower, I was reading the Historic Houses Trust publication Lost Gardens of Sydney. These orchids, along with many other varieties, are all but gone from bushland in and around Sydney because they were pilfered for home gardens. It is only thanks to a few diligent individuals that the practice was outlawed and remnants of bushland saved for our enjoyment and the continued propagation of these species.

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