In Flower This Week

 

29 November 2002

Melaleuca 'Sea Foam' - click for larger image

Summer heat, cooling breezes and many flowers along the Main Path, so come and look.  The walk starts at the far end of the Café building, passing Melaleuca ‘Sea Foam’ [Section 131] a shrub massed with foamy white floral sprays. Alyogyne huegelii [Section 131], at the end of the building, displays its white hibiscus flowers and opposite Callistemon viminalis [Section 143], with dark grooved trunks, has graceful willowy branches bright with red bottlebrush flowers.

Leptospermum ‘Aphrodite’ [Sections 10, 11] bears red and green open flowers. Melaleuca steedmanii [Section 12] is another shrub with red bottlebrush flowers while Callistemon ‘Chisholmi’ [Section 10] displays small pink bottlebrush flowers.

The bed of daisies, including Rhodanthe chlorocephala [Section 303] with soft pink and white flowers, is quite picturesque while, opposite a kangaroo paw, Anigozanthos flavidus [Section 8], bears dark red ‘paw’ flowers. Kunzea ambigua [Section 30] is a medium shrub with arching branches well covered with white fluffy flower balls, much favoured by small green and orange beetles. Almost opposite one lovely red and grey ribbed flower spike of Banksia coccinia ‘Waite Crimson’ [Section 30] is there to be admired. Crossing the road, Grevillea johnsonii x wilsonii [Section 24] is dense and upright with brilliant waxy curvaceous flowers. Grevillea ‘Poorinda Adorning’ [Section 24], edging the path, is prostrate and bright with red-orange flowers.

Along the curving path through the Sydney Region Gully, Scaevola ramosissima [Section 191S] is a small plant with purple fan flowers along its trailing stems. Cassinia denticulata [Section 191S] has large clusters of small cream flowers resembling cauliflowers borne on erect branches. Amid the greenery in the gully, the large red flower heads of Gymea Lily, Doryanthes excelsa [Section 191], can be seen. Their long upright stems are concealed in the foliage. Opposite the lookout a crowd of white flannel flowers, Actinotus helianthi ‘Federation Stars’ [Section 191P], with velvety grey-green foliage, mingles with Fringe Lily, Thysanotus juncifolius [Section 191P] with grass-like foliage and bright purple, fringed, three-petaled flowers, and Dampiera stricta [Section 191P], a suckering plant with upright stems of blue flowers. Sowerbaea juncea [Section 191G] has heads of purple flowers amid its rush-like leaves and Hibbertia pedunculata [Section 191S] is a dense, semi-prostrate plant bright with yellow flowers. Melaleuca thymifolia [Section 191E] covers its branches with purple flower clusters while opposite, Boronia microphylla [Section 191D] is a small, dainty plant lightly covered with small pink flowers.

Follow the path through the Eucalypt Lawn, where the Yellow Bloodwood, Eucalyptus eximia [Section 35], with branches heavy with fluffy cream flowers, has interesting cream flaking bark. Crossing the road, Hakea trineura [Section 20] has attractive yellow and burnt-red flower clusters. Then there is the Rock Garden laden with flowers. Dampiera diversiflora [Section 15R] is a dense ground cover covered with deep blue flowers falling down the slope, Coopernookia barbata [Section 15R] is a small herb, pretty with pinkish flowers, and Ptilotus manglesii [Section 15V] is a dwarf plant with pink and silver flower heads. A stroll back to the carpark, then, through the cool and green Rainforest Gully.

Marvelous flora … even in today’s heat…                                  Barbara Daly.