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

Celia Rosser’s exquisite watercolours of banksias are on display at the National Library. Many of the Gardens’ banksias are in flower now and are mentioned in last week’s and again in this week’s In Flower news sheets.

Edging Banks Walk, Lechenaultia ‘Red Devil’ [Section 174] is a small, prostrate plant, brilliant with red flowers. Banksia ‘Birthday Candles’ [Section 174, 210], dwarf and dense, protrudes its heads of golden flower spikes above the greenery. Close to the Banks Centre, Banksia ‘Giant Candles’ [Section 143], large and dense, extends many long golden flower spikes throughout the shrub. Walking uphill, below the spreading branches of the grand old Eucalyptus mannifera [Section 10], Thryptomene saxicola ‘Pink Lace’ [Section 10] is a small shrub with lateral, sweeping branches well covered with small pink flowers. Over the road, Correa pulchella ‘Pink Mist’ [Section 119] has soft pink tubular flowers while in front Correa reflexa ‘Maroonda Tricolor’ [Section 119] has flowers coloured red, yellow and tipped with green.

Across the Brittle Gum Lawn, opposite the rainforest, Banksia spinulosa var. spinulosa [Section 110] is a medium compact shrub, bright with gold floral spikes ribbed with red styles. Opposite, edging the rainforest, Acronychia littoralis [Section 114] is tall with dark glossy leaves brightened with dense clusters of small yellow flowers. The triangular bed contains Acacia aphylla [Section 17], an upright leafless shrub, dense with angulated branches with sharp spines, softened with yellow flower balls. Ptilotus macrocephalus [Section 17] with soft cream fluffy flowers almost surround Alyogyne huegelii [Section 17] with hibiscus-shaped leaves and deep purple open flowers.

Across the road, a many-branched Alyogyne huegelii [Section 123] is also picturesque with mauve-shaded flowers. Around the corner a planting of Crowea 'Festival' shrubs [Section123] are neatly rounded and covered with bright pink star flowers. Not so bright are the roots of several large eucalypts [Section 123 and elsewhere] attacked and killed by a fungus, Armillaria luteobubalina. Read the signs for more information.

Edging the rainforest a lillypilly, Acmena smithii [Section 140] is a small glossy-leafed tree crowned with large clusters of pretty pink fruits. Taking the path opposite a stand of tree ferns, Dicksonia antarctica [Section 140], see Banksia oblongifolia [Section 37] an open shrub exposing many immature green flower spikes. Behind, Banksia ericifolia [Section 37] is a quite large, dense shrub laden with rich golden flower spikes. Acacia podalyriifolia [Section 122] Queensland Silver Wattle, is a tree of medium size graceful with grey-green foliage and bright with soft yellow flower balls. Banksia media [Section 37] now has large dense, tan-shaded, ageing flower spikes which were once a creamy yellow. Worth viewing, below the top path, is Grevillea triloba [Section 37] with branches of white feathery flowers, beside Hakea cristata [Section 37] with long lateral branches of cream fluffy globular flowers.

Such winter colour ...

Barbara Daly.