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.

15 December 2006

Prostanthera lasianthos - click for larger image

Summer and it's getting hotter, but there are still plenty of flowers to see. On Banks Walk on the left [Section 210] are a native Hibiscus Alyogyne 'West Coast' with large purplish mauve flowers, and Grevillea johnsonii x wilsonii behind the seat near the cascade, with large red spider flowers. Just after the bridge [Section 125] is Grevillea barklyana subsp. barklyana with pink tooth brushes.

Turn left up the hill just before the café. On the left on the edge of the rain forest gully [Section 127] opposite the brush fence is Victorian Christmas Bush Prostanthera lasianthos (unlabelled) with white flowers. In this bed there are several Rough Tree Ferns, Cyathea australis, and many ferns and orchids, including the green flowered Snake Orchid, Cymbidium suave, just uphill from the upright dead stump. Farther up the hill [Section 125] is Native Elderberry, Cuttsia viburnea, with masses of honey-scented white flowers, and [Section 114] Hibiscus divaricatus, with large yellow flowers. On the right [Section 124], going up hill from the brush fence, is the ground cover Grevillea 'Poorinda Royal Mantle', with bright pink tooth brushes and Melaleuca linariifolia 'Snowstorm', with white brushes.

The triangular bed [Section 17] is a mass of colour. There are three tall kangaroo paws, Anigozanthos 'Bush Haze' with yellow flowers and red stems, Anigozanthos 'Bush Ruby', with red flowers and red stems, and Anigozanthos flavidus, with green flowers. The shorter kangaroo paw is Anigozanthos sp. with red flowers on dark stems. Daisies in this bed include Chrysocephalum apiculatum and Chrysocephalum sp. with many small yellow flowers and Brachyscome 'Roulette' and Brachyscome 'Breakoday' with mauve daisy flowers. The brilliant blue flowered lily is Thelionema. There are also a yellow guinea flower Hibbertia kaputarensis and the pink flowered Geraldton Wax Chamaelaucium 'Cascade Brook'.

Hibiscus divaricatus - click for larger image

Turn right onto the road. On the left [Section 123] are the speedwell Derwentia sp. with white flowers, and the rare Ozothamnus whitei with woolly white flowers.

Turn right down a narrow track by the sign for [Section 78]. In front of you is a large Silky Oak, Grevillea robusta, with orange spider flowers in [Section 105]. This is a favourite with honeyeaters like the Noisy Friarbird and Red Wattle Bird.

At the end of this short track, you can turn left into the Rockery, or right to get back to the road you came up.

Betty Wood