Australian National Botanic Gardens

In Flower this Week

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

25 September 2009

Hibbertia empetrifolia - click for larger image

As you leave the Visitors’ Information Centre on the left is the Scrambling Guinea Flower, Hibbertia empetrifolia [Section 210] with bright yellow flowers on small dense foliage. Further along on the left are exuberant pots of Actinodium cunninghamii or Albany Daisy [Section 210] with beautiful pink centres to white daisy flowers. As you bear left up the hill with the café on your right there is a most unusual plant of Richea dracophylla [Section 305] with spiky bracts contained in the creamy white spires of flower. On the left is the orchid Dendrobium falcorostrum [Section 125] growing amongst rocks with showy sprays of white flowers fit for a corsage. Notice on your right Grevillea ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ [Section 124], a vigorous groundcover with red brushes. On the left is Indigofera australis [Section 114] with pink pea flowers on an airy bush of arching blue green foliage.

Pass the Main Path and bear right along the paved road just as you spot on your left Dendrobium speciosum [Section 104] with sprays of white orchid flowers. In the small triangular bed on the corner there is a lovely Geraldon Wax Chamelaucium ‘Cascade Brook’ [Section 17] which is a large open shrub with pink flowers. On the right are several mint bushes, Prostanthera rotundifolia [Section 78], giving a grand display of purple blooms on grey green foliage. On the left is Olearia viscidula [Section 120], an open bush of arching sprays of small white daisy flowers. Look up to the left to see the large wattle Acacia terminalis [Section 2] making a cheerful yellow splash. At the top of the steps under the Rock Garden sign is Grevillea lanigera [Section 15h] covered in pink flowers. On the right at the top of the steps it is hard to miss the acid yellow flowers of Homoranthus flavescens [Section 15]. At the base of rocks on the right are several patches of Brachyscome formosa [Section 15h] showing pink starry flowers on a close green groundcover.

The dense mound of bright yellow ball flowers on the right is Acacia pravissima [Section 15h]. Also on the right is Senna artemisioides subsp. filifolia [Section 15h], with buttercup yellow flowers on fine yellow green foliage. Nearby is Eremophila oldfieldii [Section 15h] or Pixie Bush with creamy white tubular flowers on grey green foliage.

Further along the large and very spiky shrub on the right is Hakea recurva [Section 20] with yellowish tightly curled flowers. It is underplanted by Hakea purpurea [Section 20] with lipstick pink blooms.

Grevillea aspleniifolia - click for larger image

Turn right down the Main Path heading back towards the Visitors’ Information Centre. On the left notice the pink and white blooms of Rhodanthe chlorocephala [Section 4] in the fenced area. Also prominent are the bright yellow daisy heads of Schoenia filifolia [Section 4]. It is worth noticing on the right the closed beaky red flowers of Gastrolobium celsianum [Section 15r] and also on the right the arching sprays of bright yellow balls Acacia acinacea or Gold Dust Wattle [Section 15r]. On the left is Prostanthera violacea [Section 6] showing mauve flowers on a neat bush of tiny dense foliage. Bear left downhill to our last plant on the right which is the huge Grevillea aspleniifolia [Section 107] with linear foliage and pink brushes. Continue down the hill to the café and Visitors’ Information Centre.

Rosalind Walcott