Fairies at Bibra Lake

As if getting our very own Pink Fairy Orchid at the plant sale this morning wasn’t enough, we followed that up with a visit to Bibra Lake where we found the biggest patch of pink fairies all in one place that I have ever seen!

My personal feelings are that the pink fairies at Bibra Lake are close to what heaven must be like! We were told by someone in the orchid group that they were there last year, but I never could have imagined so many.

The Wiki on them:

The Pink Fairy Orchid (Caladenia latifolia) is species of orchid found across southern Australia.

Caladenia latifolia is a tuberous, perennial herb. The species epithet, latifolia, refers to the leaves which are basal, oblong-lanceolate, glabrous and up to 20 cm long. The flowers may be solitary or in an inflorescence of a few flowers and appear during August – October. The sepals and lateral petals are pink or occasionally white in colour, the upper surface is hairy and the margins of the lateral petals may be slightly serrated. The labellum is three lobed, 6–7mm long, with two pink striped lobes subtended by a narrowly triangular lobe. The middle lobe is fringed with white calli (glandular hairs)

A feast for my eyes, so many in one place.

What a happy little group. Trying to get a close up while still showing how many there are.

Such a thrill to see. I could easily forget that this time last year, looking for these is when I fell and sprained my ankle!

At every turn we could only see more.

A tree makes a nice backdrop for this bunch.

This time, it was like we didn’t have to hunt for them at all, it was as if they found us! That’s how many there were.

Awww, so pretty.

A beauty on its own.

There were also pink fairy orchids that were white.