Botanica Purple reigns during jacaranda time in Grafton, NSW.

Few towns can put on a floral display quite like Grafton in northern NSW. For several weeks from mid-October through to November, this picturesque rural city on the Clarence River is a haze of vivid purple as hundreds of resident jacarandas – a stroke of genius in civic planting dating back to the 1870s – burst into bloom.

Many of the town’s wide streets, such as Kent Street, pictured here, transform into glorious, amethyst-coloured tunnels with branches arcing overhead and their flowers carpeting the ground. En masse, the purple canopies take on a fluorescent intensity, and on balmy days the air is warm and sweetly scented. For anyone planning a road trip between Sydney and Brisbane at this time of the year, a detour off the Pacific Highway into these mauve avenues is highly recommended.