Wildflower hotspots

Every spring, Western Australia’s wildflowers put on an epic display that dazzles visitors across the Golden Outback - though each year is a little different.

While Western Australia usually plays host to one of the best wildflower seasons in the world, there are a lot of factors that go into making a good wildflower season in WA - from the temperature to the rain, whether it was an early or late autumn or winter, and a whole bunch of other things. Yet, though some seasons are amazing, and others are not quite so epic, each has its own charms, and given that the region is so big, chances are that somewhere in the Golden Outback there are incredible wildflowers just waiting for you to visit them.

Throughout the upcoming season, we will collate the best information that we have, bringing you insight from all across the Golden Outback. We know where to start looking for flowers and all the secret wildflower hotspots where they bloom year on year on year, so check back for wildflower updates throughout spring.

When to see Wildflowers in 2022?

Depending on how winter progresses, we can expect to start seeing wildflowers popping up out of the rust-red ground in the Gascoyne-Murchison towards late July. The best time for seeing wildflowers up here is between August and early September, but they can be a little fickle if it isn’t a wet enough winter - as can the flowers in the Goldfields, which are usually in full bloom by mid-August and continue through until October.

The best places to see wildflowers in the Golden Outback tend to be the Wheatbelt and around Esperance and Fitzgerald River, where winters are usually a little wetter. Wildflower Country in the Wheatbelt usually blooms with the canola, around mid-August to September and extends into October, while the Southern Outback Coast is in its prime from September to late Oct/early Nov.

July Wildflower Report 2023

This is usually when we would start to see the first signs of the early wildflowers creeping up in the Gascoyne-Murchison, so we’re keeping our eyes out and doing rain dances across the state to help coax them out.

August Wildflower Report 2023

August is usually the best time to see wildflowers in the Gascoyne-Murchison and the beginning of the season in the Goldfields and the Wheatbelt. By the end of August, you can also start to see wildflowers around Perth, so this is a good way to gauge what’s growing out there in the rest of the West too!

One of the best places to see wildflowers in WA is Wildflower Country north of Perth, so keep an eye on predictions up there and from the Visitors Centres around Mingenew and Coalseam Conservation Park, which are filled with carpets of flowers on a good year.

September Wildflower Report 2023

September is usually the best month to see wildflowers in WA, when almost all the state is in bloom simultaneously! It’s prime time for wildflower road trips across the Golden Outback, where you can see the carpets of everlastings, wreath flowers and verticordia in the Wheatbelt - while the famous canola flowers paint the hills yellow.

September also plays host to Wattle Week Festival, Dalwallinu, when the streets come alive in bright and beautiful wattle. While down on the south coast, wildflower season is welcomed in with the Esperance Wildflower Festival and the Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show & Spring Festival (all dates yet to be confirmed).

October Wildflower Report 2023

In a typical year, October is the southern outback’s time to step into the spotlight. Up north in the Gascoyne-Murchison the blaze of glory is starting to look a little less glorious, while the Goldfields is looking decidedly more lacklustre.

Still, it isn’t all doom and gloom, the carpets of everlastings may be over for another season, but the orchids and verticordia are still out in the Wheatbelt, with Wongan Hill’s Reynoldson Reserve Festival Weekend to look forward to (dates tbc - it can sometimes be pushed to November, depending on the season).

The wildflowers in the Wheatbelt are usually still pretty good in October too - especially down south - so it’s the perfect time to get out and do a wildflower road trip. Check out the 7-10 day Esperance Wildflower Explorer, where you can hit all the wildflower hotspots in one fell swoop before the end of wildflower season 2022.