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

This longer walk starts up near the Nursery. While there, peer over the gate to see the rows of plants which will eventually be added to these wonderful gardens.

Strolling upwards, the yellow straw daisies Bracteantha bracteata [Section 34], with grey-green foliage, edge the road. Nearby Grevillea lanigera [Section 34] reveals its attractive pink and cream flowers over the dense spreading prostrate plant. Opposite are emu bushes, Eremophila glabra [Section 100] with grey-green foliage brightened with lovely salmon tubular flowers and Eremophila maculata [Section 100] with cherry-red flowers and green foliage. Brachycome multifida ‘Breakoday’ [Section 34] has bright purple daisies scattered over the soft foliage of these low cushion plants. Other plants including the twiggy daisy bush Olearia ramulosa [Section 34] bearing white daisies and Leucophyta brownii ‘Cape Le Grande’ [Section 34], a grey, almost white, twiggy plant, grow in this bed.

Following the path through the Western Mallee plantings, many flowering plants can be seen. Correa reflexa var. reflexa [Section 100] is an upright shrub concealing its light green pendent tubular flowers in the dense foliage. Scaevola stricta [Section 100] is a prostrate plant with large, deep purple fan-shaped flowers along the trailing stems. An open shrub of medium size, Eremophila bignoniiflora var. polyclada [Section 100] shows off its large bugle flowers coloured a mix of white and mauve with a speckled throat... a beauty. Polycalymma stuartii [Section 100] is an upright annual with flowers with large yellow centres surrounded by narrow white petals which resemble poached eggs. Hypocalymma strictum subsp. longifolium [Section 100] is a dwarf plant covered with frilly pink flowers.

Around the curve, Banksia epica [Section 100] is a small shrub with serrated leaves and some attractive, almost round, flower heads which are brown spotted with yellow. Note the many green budding spikes. Banksia ornata [Section 100] is another small shrub with short stubby cream flower spikes. Nearby a banksia cultivar with a reclining trunk, Banksia ‘Waite Orange’ [Section 100,] has long, narrow, deeply serrated leaves and one large woolly orange flower. Bluebells, Wahlenbergia stricta [Section 100] with bright blue flowers, are seen throughout this area. Pimelea ferruginea [Section 100] is a neat small plant with heads of small pink flowers.

Leaving this area, Banksia ericifolia var. ericifolia [Section 103] is a large dense shrub with dark green foliage, bright with long upright rich golden flower spikes. At the top corner are a few straw daisies, Bracteantha bracteata [Section 103], some coloured yellow and others deep red. Around this corner, Cliff Bottlebrush, Callistemon comboynensis [Section 103] is quite dense with dark foliage and crimson-purple flowers. Across the road are small slim trees of White Holly, Auranticarpa rhombifolia [Section 96], bright with large clusters of orange fruits and glossy green leaves.

Really a great walk ...

Barbara Daly.