In Flower This Week A weekly news-sheet prepared by a Gardens volunteer  Numbers in brackets [ ] refer to garden bed 'Sections'.

Happy and healthy 2001 to all. Parties may be over but summer concerts in the Gardens are worth attending. Flowers continue. The blue haze in front of the main gates is that of the Blue Devil, Eryngium rostratum [Section 175] whose prickly flowers and stem are a metallic blue. In the colourful pots at the Visitors Centre doors Pandorea 'Southern Belle' dispays its soft pink trumpet shaped flowers amid the shining green foliage.

This walk is in the vicinity of the Eucalypt Lawn where summer concerts are held on Saturday evenings. After strolling through the cooling Rainforest, flowers in the triangular garden include Ptilotus manglesii [Section 17] with magenta and silver fluffy flowers over a semi-prostrate plant and Ptilotus nobilis [Section 17] with upright stems of greenish-lemon cylindrical flowers. The very small Hemigenia sp. [Section 17] has a covering of soft pink open flowers while, opposite, the upright Alyogyne hugelii [Section 123] displays its lilac hibiscus-like flowers.

The Rock Garden is a haven of colour. Along the top road, a kangaroo paw, Anigozanthos flavidus [Section 15H] with long upright stems has attractive copper-toned 'paw' flowers. Crowding it is a geebung, Persoonia linearis x pinifolia [Section 15H] with pendent yellow conical flower clusters over a dense shrub. Scaevola albida var. albida [Section 15H] is massed with white fan-flowers and nearby Dampiera sylvestris [Section 15H] is a dense suckering plant with upright stems covered with rich blue flowers.

Opposite the entrance to the nursery, Backhousia myrtifolia [Section 44], against the circular wall, is a small tree heavy with cream fluffy flowers. Edging the Eucalypt Lawn, Hibbertia diffusa [Section 44] is a dense ground cover speckled with bright yellow open flowers. Hibbertia pedunculata [Section 44] is similar with differing foliage. Epacris longiflora [Section 44] has bright red, tipped white, fine tubular flowers amid the entanglement of fine branches. Tristania neriifolia [Section 44] is a neat, upright shrub radiant with bright yellow open flowers. Edging the nursery, a Darling Pea, Swainsona galegifolia [Section 69] is quite dense with fine pinnate leaves and mauve-pink pea flowers along its arching branches.

The Sydney Region Flora plantings include Bursaria spinosa subsp. lasiophylla [Section 191], an erect thorny shrub covered with masses of white flowers. In front, Platysace lanceolata [Section 191] is a small shrub with neat rounded clusters of tiny flowers on upright stems. In this area, Cassinia aureonitens [Section 191] is seen with clusters of yellow flowers on the tops of upright bare branches. Then view the lovely Christmas Bells, Blandfordia grandiflora [Section 191] with red cylindrical flowers, tipped yellow, borne in clusters on upright stems, surrounded by the equally lovely white daisy-like flannel flowers, Actinotus helianthi 'Federation Star' [Section 191].

Great walking, grand flowers …

Barbara Daly.