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.

27 November 2009

Ptilotus manglesii - click for larger image

Climbing the wall opposite the door to the Visitors Information Centre is Pandorea jasminoides, a vine bright with many large pink flowers. In pots outside the door are Grevillea leptobotrys with strands of soft pink flowers among its sharp leaves and Ptilotus manglesii displaying its globular tinsel pink flowers.

This walk is about another colourful section of the Garden, that of the mallee areas of South Australia and Western Australia, above the old nursery area.

Starting at the base of the old nursery site Leptospermum spectabile [Section 44] is really spectacular with its cover of red flowers. Following the road up beside the old site an emu bush, Eremophila ionantha [Section 100b] spreads its branches clad with small, mauve, bugle-shaped flowers. Coppercups, Pileanthus limacis [Section 100b] is a small upright shrub bearing catchy orange-red open flowers while Melaleuca radula [Section 100b] has long woody branches topped with mauve fluffy flower clusters.

Turn into this mallee area following the board-walk in an anti-clockwise direction where Halgania anagalloides var. preissiana [Section 100b] is a small many-branched plant tipped with blue flowers, and Eremophila glabra subsp. glabra [Section 100b] is an upright shrub with long deep-red tube-shaped flowers with grey-green foliage. Eremophila christophorii [Section 100a] has shorter mauve bugle-shaped flowers throughout the open shrub. A vine, Billardiera lehmanniana [Section 100a] is a dense entanglement clad with small white flowers. Grevillea pilosa subsp. pilosa [Section 100b] has long low branches clad with holly-like leaves and hairy, powdery pink flowers. Lechenaultia biloba [Section 100a] is a small upright plant with pale blue flowers, seen about the area. Agrostocrinum scabrum, the Blue Grass lily [Section 100a] is an upright tufted plant with narrow spear-like leaves which mingle with the slender flower stems tipped with brilliant blue star flowers. Below, in the valley, kangaroo paws, Anigozanthos ‘Bush Noon’ [Section 100a] are bright with yellow ‘paw’-shaped flowers and Anigozanthos flavidus ‘Turner’s Pink’ [Section 100a] has pinkish flowers atop erect stems.

Further along, Eremophila bignoniiflora x polyclada [Section 100b] has long rambling branches tipped with large bugle flowers tinted mauve with deeper speckled throat. Rising from the Porcupine Grass, (Triodia scariosa), Baeckea astarteoides [Section 100b] is an attractive shrub with pendulous branches clad with tiny pink flowers.

At the curve Verticordia chrysantha [Section 100b] is a small rounded shrub clad with clusters of bright yellow feathery flowers, while opposite, Vericordia plumosa var plumosa [Section 100a] has dark-centred pink flowers in small clusters. The dense spreading shrub is Thomasia petalocalyx [Section 100a], profuse with small pink downturned flowers.

Lambertia ericifolia - click for larger image

Passing the bend, Melaleuca seriata [Section 100c] is a tall slim shrub with cherry-pink flower clusters. In the centre garden, emu bush Eremophila oppositifolia [Section 100a] is a somewhat rounded shrub with fine grey-green foliage and covered in profusion with cream-green calices now seen after the flowers have fallen. (A close-up view can be seen here of the lovely blue flowers of the Blue Grass lily). The Broom Heath Myrtle, Babingtonia behrii [Section 100a] is an upright shrub bearing white-petalled flowers while behind, Kangaroo paw Anigozanthos ‘Regal Claw’ [Section 100a] displays its red-orange- green ‘paw’ flowers on long upright stems. Opposite, Regelia inops [Section 100c] is of medium size bearing pink feathery globular flower balls. Labichea lanceolata subsp. lanceolata [Section 100a] displays its yellow open flowers over the medium size shrub. Nearby, Eremophila laanii [Section 100a] is showy with its pale pink flowers and Anigozanthos ‘Bush Sunset’ [Section 100a] reveals its brick-red flower heads. At the end of the board-walk Lambertia ericifolia [Section 100c] is a many-branched shrub still able to display its well-designed orange-red tubular flowers. So many other flowering beauties to see. …

Such a colourful selection of mallee flowers … Barbara Daly.