October and November are the best months to see our beautiful sun orchids. The lemon-scented Rabbit Ears, Thelymitra antennifera, is one of the first to flower, and unlike most sun orchids which need warm humid weather to open, Rabbit Ears will open readily with little sun.
Rabbit Ears
These delightful yellow orchids with brown, ear-like column arms have no nectar but attract bee pollinators by mimicking other yellow flowers such as Hibbertia and Goodenia growing nearby. They can form large colonies especially after fire.
Many other sun orchids are in bud with the most obvious being the Great Sun Orchid, T. aristata, putting up tall flower stalks covered in buds.
Alison Watson and Margaret MacDonald