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.

16 January 2009

It is mid January with hot days, so this short walk wanders through shady areas starting from the Visitors Information Centre door where a most attractive display of flowers in pots is seen. This includes the beautiful Rhododendron lochiae, a low dense shrub with shiny green foliage mixing with clusters of slightly pendent trumpet-like red flowers. Beside is Grevillea leptobotrys, a trailing plant with wiry branches and leaves and colourful with lovely pink terminal floral displays. There also is the Sturt’s Desert Pea, Swainsona Formosa, its trailing stems clad with those large dark-centred red pea-shaped flowers. Edging Banks Walk, Kangaroo Paws are noticeable. They have strappy leaves and long stems tipped with variable colours and include Anigozanthos ‘Bush Haze’ [Section 210] with flowers of yellow tonings and Anigozanthos ‘Bush Sunset’ [Section 210], its flowers having red tonings. Eucalyptus ficifolia [Section 210] is a small tree, densely covered with buds now exploding into orange fluffy flowers. Looking over the car-park, the Smooth-barked Apple, Angophora costata [Section 168, 169] are large trees clad with large clusters of white fluffy flowers. The trunks of these trees are so attractive, mottled with grey and shades of cream.

Walking up the road edging the far side of the Rainforest, Clerodendrum tomentosum [Section 125] is a large shrub with large clusters of white flowers amid the dark foliage. The Swamp Lily, Crinum pedunculatum [Section 125] has large thick tussock-like leaves with a terminal spray of white flowers on a long stem. The road to the right passes Babingtonia ‘Howie’s Feathertips’ [Section 124], a large shrub white with tiny flowers. Pandorea jasminoides [Section 124] is a climber with pink trumpet flowers while a ground-cover, Scaevola albida [Section 124], has tiny blue fan-shaped flowers in profusion. Opposite, Melaleuca ‘Hot Pink’ [Section 126] is an open shrub beautified with its pink bottlebrush-like flowers.

The road to the left passes by Emu Bushes including Eremophila calorhabdos [Section 302], a narrow upright shrub with small coral-coloured tubular flowers mixing with its small leaves. At the corner, Eremophila microtheca [Section 7] is a low open shrub with tiny tubular mauve flowers scattered about the shrub.

At the Rock Garden, the small garden opposite the waterfall also contains Emu Bushes including Eremophila latrobei var. latrobei [Section 15v] with cherry-red tubular flowers and Eremophila christophori [Section 15v], a taller shrub with mauve tubular flowers. Opposite, Guichenotia ledifolia [Section 4] is a rounded shrub with many downturned mauve flowers. Waterdragons bask on the rocks here. The rock face is well covered with Grevillea ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ [Section 15d], with a profusion of red toothbrush-like flowers, and in front, Lythrum salicaria [Section 15s] is an erect perennial, its branches tipped with spikes of purple flowers.

Walking towards the Rainforest, Banksia aemula [Section 15c] is large and dense with an abundance of cylindrical upright grey-green flower spikes. Hibbertia scandens [Section 15c] is a dense climber decorated with large yellow flowers. Before entering the Rainforest, the upright shrubs Hibiscus heterophyllus [Sections 114,104] bear white flowers splashed with pink. Walk along this path to the next stairs and then to the platform below, which overlooks the Stream Lily, Helmholtzia glaberrima [Sections145,144,146], a flax-like plant with long upright leaves and long flower spikes with plume-like pink heads…really colourful… If you look up high across the gully, you can see the loose red flowers of the Dorrigo Waratah, Alloxylon pinnatum [Section 147]. Follow the path across the bridge to the other side, and you can view this interesting plant again at the top of the stairs. Then follow this path back to the Café.

Summer flowers are great … Barbara Daly.