A Wet Winter Woke the Outback's Dormant Seeds

Arid shrublands in Western Australia were bursting with life in late austral winter 2026, when a profusion of wildflowers brought vivid colors to the rusty ochre landscape. The green was not planted or irrigated. After several wetter-than-normal months earlier in the year, dormant seeds already sitting in the soil awoke to produce carpets of blooms. Local experts think the display could be the best the area has seen in nearly two decades. That is what a seed bank buys: years of apparent nothing, and then everything at once.