Australian National Botanic Gardens

In Flower this Week

A weekly news sheet prepared by a Gardens' volunteer.
Numbers in square brackets [] refer to garden bed Sections. Plants in flower are in bold type.

3 November 2006

Grevillea johnsonii - click for larger image

Flowers are prolific, especially edging Banks Walk. Prostanthera magnifica [Section 221] at the top of the stairs to the Information Centre, is a small erect shrub magnificent with its pale mauve to purple flowers. Colourful tea-trees including Leptospermum ‘Tickled Pink’ [Section 174] is well clad with pink peach blossom flowers. Below the large eucalyptus Callistemon ‘Purple Splendour’ [Section 174] is tall and elegant with purple-pink bottlebrush flowers for decoration. In front Myoporum floribundum [Section 174] is an upright shrub quite elegant with its lateral branches clad with a mix of tiny white flowers and drooping soft thin leaves. Towards the end of this garden, Leptospermum ‘Outrageous’ [Section 174] has dark pink flowers with green centre while Leptospermum ‘Mesmer Eyes’ [Section 174] also with dark pink flowers with darker centre. Grevillea johnsonii [Section 210] overlooking the waterfall, has long arching branches bright with large red and cream waxy curvaceous flowers.

Crossing over the Rainforest Gully Grevillea barklyana [Section 125] is tall with long branches bearing soft pink toothbrush-like flowers while Olearia argophylla [Section 125] is also tall with large clusters of small white daisies. Walking up this road, ground-cover Grevillea ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ [Section 124] is dense with red toothbrush flowers. Grevillea ‘Ivanhoe’ [Section 124] reveals its red toothbrush-like flowers amid the crowded foliage. Opposite, edging the rainforest, Libertia paniculata [Section 125] is a tufted plant with strappy leaves and white flowers on upright stems. Native Frangipani, Hymenosporum flavum [Section 114] is a tall slim shrub with fragrant white flowers aging to yellow, among its shiny foliage. Attached to rocks Thelychiton kingianus [Section 114] shows its soft pink orchids while Hibbertia sp. [Section 114] is glowing with yellow flowers over a dwarf plant. At the next crossing with a mound of rocks, the pink orchids of Thelychiton kingianus [Section 104] again appears with another orchid, Thelychiton sp. [Section 104] bearing sprays of white flowers and with larger tougher leaves. There too is Goodenia grandiflora [Section 104] a dwarf shrub with bright yellow flowers, seen above the rocks while a patch of the native violets, Viola hederacea [Section 104] is dense with an abundance of white and purple flowers.

Anigozanthos flavidus - click for larger image

Across the road, in a triangle garden, kangaroo paws, Anigozanthos flavidus [Section 17] are now presenting red buds atop long, upright stems surrounded by dense strappy leaves. Boronia spathulata var.spathulata [Section 17] is a dwarf plant with lateral branches bearing four petalled pink flowers. At the top corner a Geraldton wax, Chamelaucium ‘Cascade Brook’ [Section 17] of medium size has fine foliage with an abundance of pink open flowers. Dampieras including Dampiera linearis [Section 17] have lovely deep blue flowers over very small shrubs while, edging the lower border, Thelionema sp. [Section 17], bears blue star-like flowers amid its grassy foliage. Edging this road too, are Brachyscome ‘Breakoday’ [Section 17] with its small pink-mauve daisy-like flowers amid the soft foliage and Dodonaea humilis [Section 17], a dwarf compact shrub with dark green foliage, dotted with tiny dark red flowers. In the centre of the garden Alyogyne ‘Westcoast Gem’ [Section 17] stands tall revealing its purple hibiscus flowers.

A return walk may be to visit the Rock Garden with its many floral treasures.

Such an array of colour … Barbara Daly.