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I’m in the thick of granite country here in Stanthorpe. I was looking for a photographic project to get me walking again after a lazy few weeks. Granite boulders in the rolling landscape seemed a perfect idea. So I drove off on Saturday afternoon, and scrambled through roadside grass to shoot granite. There was no shortage of boulders, but as always it was the surprising and unexpected that charmed most.
Not mighty harmless boulders, but small carnivorous sundews, a field of them, across the black water in the roadside ditch: a carpet of bright pink discs dotted with viscous moisture. They were thick at my feet most of the way to the boulder assemblage I was seeking. The green one is pretty certainly Drosera glanduligera; I’m not sure about the pink one. Both feast on insects, and my camera obviously feasted on them.
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I think Droseras are fascinating plants. Saw lots of them in WA. I have a few different ones in pots in the garden but they are all sulking at the moment because of lack of sun…
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It didn’t occur to me that droseras are garden plants!
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My friend has quite a collection of them.
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Love the little pink guys 🙂
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That doesn’t surprise me. Although they are carnivores!
I didn’t ask. what kind of orchids did you find the other day?
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More of the ‘hot pink’ ones (which my daft husband insists are purple 🙂 Indulgent smile!) and some more delicate tiny soft pinks. The photos are kicking about somewhere. To attach to some haiku whenever there’s time/space. Saw some cracking windows – not literally!- in Leeds yesterday so expect them next. 🙂
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Orchids AND haiku. A treat in store.
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What an unusual find. Such strange country too.
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The granite belt is well worth a visit. I’ll go on another granite hunt on a blue day, and in late afternoon light. It looked wonderful when I went off to post my blog yesterday – but I had neither cameras, nor phone and I don’t like photographing with iPad.
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It sounds great. The weather is awful down here. I’d love to get away.
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Here it’s brisk, but mainly sunny – and I’m off to Brisbane with my most beloved senior grandchildren at the weekend.
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wow. What a year you are having. Enjoy Brisbane 🙂
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Little alien universes – a splendid find.
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Part of your botanical assemblage at all? Or too cold?
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We do have sundews in quite high and exposed moorland boggy places in the Lake District. I’ve not seen anything with as an elaborate trapping kit as yours though.
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I love these sundews strewn like jewels across the boggy land. North of Newcastle I have seen them in a poorly drained area at Stroud, and on top of Sydney’s sandstone cliffs in wet depressions. There are many varieties in southwestern Western Australia, some growing alongside orchids. I hope that you will also find orchid colonies when you do get to explore the granite boulders.
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I think we may have moved on before the spring orchid flowerings. I need to track down F’s granite belt flower book to see what to expect when, and maybe whizz off to Girraween after the sojourn at Tamborine, just in case. I went on a flower walk here once starting in wonderful accessible granite country, before moving onto private property, but I can’t remember where it was and I forgot to ask her.
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What a great find! Sundews are so alien looking 🙂
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Do you encounter them on your rambles at all? There are a hundred species, but mainly temperate and tropical.
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Never seen one except in a glasshouse.
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Oh they’re amazing, so much prettier than i would have expected, what a delight, you must have been thrilled to bits to find them ☺
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I was. I love stumbling across unexpected things, especially when I recognise them. I’ve seen sundews before, but never in such profusion.
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