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

At the corner of the Main Path going up the ramp Teucrium argutum [Section 212] is a dwarf spreading plant with mint-like foliage and pink-mauve flowers along the upright spikes. Crowea ‘Southern Stars’ [Section 212] has pink star flowers over this small shrub while above, Correa glabra [Section 212] is dense with lemon-green tubular flowers for decoration.

Flowers aren’t really prolific at this time of the year, however there is still much to see. Many banksias are producing juvenile flower spikes and numerous bottlebrushes are flaming red. This walk starts in the Rainforest Gully and at the first seats, a Pinkwood, Eucryphia moorei [Section 148], with open white fragrant flowers towards the canopy of this tall tree, can be seen. Close to the corner of the descending stairs Brush Cherry, Syzygium australe [Section 148], displays its soft fluffy white flowers amid the dark foliage. At the bottom of these stairs, edging the stream, Helmholtzia glaberrima [Section 144,148] is a flax-like plant with long arching leaves and pale pink floral plumes atop long stems.

Along the road above, Goodenia grandiflora [Section 104], still very small, is covered with bright yellow flowers. Opposite, Lemon Myrtle, Backhousia citriodora [Section 78], is most attractive with clusters of small yellow-centred cream flowers fluffy with an abundance of hairy stamens. Lythrum salicaria [Section 78] has purple flowers along the tops of its long upright stems. The weeping Red Bottlebrush, Callistemon viminalis [Section 78], is bright with Crimson Rosellas and New Holland Honeyeaters which share the nectar of the red flowers. In the triangle garden, Dampiera stricta [Section 17] is a low suckering herb bright with blue flowers. Hemigenia sp. [Section 17] has pink bugle flowers along its ground-trailing stems and nearby Ptilotus nobilis [Section 17] has stems along the sand-bed heavy with upright cylindrical cream flower spikes.

The planting of Crowea ‘Festival’ [Section 123] is splendid with sparkling deep pink star flowers over the dense rounded shrubs. Not so splendid is the backdrop of dead tree trunks resulting from the attacks of Armillaria Root Rot (more information about this problem on the signs at the site).

Banksia speciosa [Section 37] has a few squat lemon flower spikes on long meandering stems, its leaves are long, narrow and deeply toothed. Banksia media [Section 37] is small and old with a stunning variety of cylindrical flower spikes shaded deep brown-orange when juvenile, fading to brown-yellow and so to yellow, the mature size is large and almost woolly … really photogenic. Beside a waratah, Telopea mongaensis [Section 37] is a large shrub covered with dark red buds on the verge of maturing. On the way back, Acacia longissima [Section 123] is of medium size with an abundance of cream flower rods.

Such flower varieties …

Barbara Daly.