The Australian bushfires devastated large swaths of nature in Australia, but from those charred lands something beautiful has risen: plains full of bright-colored Christmas bell flowers.
These stunning red and yellow flowers used to grow in abundance in the Lake Innes Nature Reserve in northern New South Wales, but locals say it’s been decades since the Christmas bells have flourished in such numbers.
So, why the Christmas bells emerging after a decades-long hiatus?
According to Australian native wildlife grower Paul Dalley, the severe bushfires in the area in late 2019, followed by a good rainfall in 2020, has created ideal growing conditions for Christmas bells. As he put it, it’s “been a combination of fire and rain.”
“It’s a carry-over effect from last year. During the drought a lot of the Christmas bells went dormant, they don’t compete very well with other plants in the bush for water,” said Dalley. “So they were knocked back, then the bushfire came along and knocked out a lot of that competition. Christmas bells have an underground root structure that allows them to survive the fire and then come back quickly to reshoot, and they’ve done that.”
Want to see some photos of the Christmas bell flowers that are blooming in abundance in New South Wales? Just follow the link right here.
