The Little Desert abounds with native flora, with over 670 species recorded. Different species of plants can be found flowering throughout the year.
In Autumn, honeyeaters and other nectar feeding birds are attracted to flowering banksias:
- Desert Banksia (pictured)
- Silver Banksia
During Winter, low heath plants proliferate:
- Flame Heath
- Brush Heath
- Cranberry Heath
- Pink Heath
- Common Correa
Highlights of a spring wildflower tour include:
- Blue Tinsel Lily (pictured)
- Fringe-myrtle
- Golden Pennants
- Phebalium
- Violet Honey-Myrtle
- Golden Wattle
- Scarlet Bottlebrush
Wonderful winter and spring orchids can also be found, just to name a few:
- Waxlip Orchid
- Banded Greenhood
- Heart-lipped Spider-orchid
- Green-comb Spider-orchid
- Daddy Long Legs
- Hooded Caladenia
- Pink Fingers
- Blue Fairies
- Slaty Helmet-Orchid
- Leopard Orchid
- Scented Sun-orchid (pictured)
Wildflower Exhibition
Each Spring, we hold our annual wildflower exhibition, show-casing an array of springtime blooms. We are specially licensed to pick samples of the locally occurring wildflowers to put on display for public viewing. This is a must for those with an interest in botany, or for anyone with an eye for natural beauty. For the next shows date please see the Upcoming Events page
Native Flora Garden
A major project being undertaken at the Little Desert Nature Lodge is the development of a Native Flora Garden. The garden is an area of about 30 hectares of natural and planted bushland, which has been fenced off to exclude grazing animals (like rabbits). We are licensed to collect seeds, cuttings and whole plants from the Little Desert National Park to enable propagation of a range of indigenous plant species. This includes a number of the beautiful orchids as well as endangered species such as Westringia crassifolia, found in only two sites in Victoria.
The garden includes an 11 ha area that was revegetated in 1992 by direct seeding. This area was originally a cleared paddock covered mainly with Evening Primrose (an exotic weed from South Africa). The plant species that have been revegetated include typical food plants of the Malleefowl (acacia spp.), and therefore provides an enriched habitat for this endangered bird species. In 2002 some of our captively bred Malleefowl were introduced into the area.