In mid-June, storms pelted Gippsland, a region in Victoria that cups part of mainland Australia’s southeastern edge. Wind downed trees, and water breached swollen riverbanks and pooled in streets. The weather snuffed out power at tens of thousands of homes. But after the rain, a bewitching sight appeared along the area’s soggy shores: It looked as if someone had draped the landscape with gauzy sheets. They were white, thin, and fragile-looking, and appeared to have been placed gingerly, like fluffed veils. Through them, passersby could glimpse individual blades of grass….
