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.
2 July 2010
Spyridium burragorang click for larger image |
Today we will walk in the winter sunshine along the clearly marked Main Loop. As you leave the Visitors’ Information Centre on the right is a pot of bright orange/red Kangaroo Paws Anigozanthos ‘Kings Park Centennial Flame’ [Section 221]. Further along on the right is Spyridium burragorang, a low woody plant which is rare in the wild, with white floral leaves and brown central flowers from Lake Burragorang, NSW. Also on the right is Woollsia pungens [Section 174], a straggly bush with prickly foliage and terminal heads of white flowers which are very attractive to bees and butterflies. As its name suggests it has a pungent scent. Also on the right is Epacris impressa [Section 174], the state flower of Victoria. It has narrow bells of lipstick pink clustered closely on a straggly bush. On the left, notice the long flowering Prostanthera phylicifolia [Section 210] with small mauve cupped flowers on a neat rounded bush. Across the bridge and past the café is the Ellis Rowan Garden. On the left is Banksia ‘Stumpy Gold’ [Section 131] showing many gold candles with red pistils. If you look up you will see the white fluffy flowers of Eucalyptus gregsoniana [Section 131]. Further along the path on the right is Crowea ‘Coopers Hybrid’ [Section 240] with cheerful pink star flowers showing up clearly on neat foliage. At the base of the eucalypt on the right is Acacia alata var. biglandulosa or Winged Wattle [Section 240] with flattened phyllodes covered in cream balls.
Up the hill on the left is X Astartea ‘Winter Pink’ with tiny pink five-petalled flowers on an insubstantial bush. On the right, just behind the section sign is a small white flowering daisy bush, Olearia ramosissima [Section 303]. On the right both the tree and prostrate forms of Banksia integrifolia subsp. integrifolia [Section 27] are in bloom with pale yellow candles on wonderful dark green foliage with silver backs to the leaves. On the left is the unusual Green Grevillea Grevillea jephcottii [Section 25] with pale green flowers on darker green foliage much loved by nectar-feeding birds. On the left is the Red Spider Grevillea Grevillea dimorpha [Section 25] with brick red spider flowers on an open bush. Grevillea ‘Bonfire’ [Section 24] is on the left, a tall grevillea with waxy red flowers well displayed above bushy divided foliage. Another excellent grevillea is on the left, Grevillea ripicola [Section 24], a mound of mid-green divided foliage with red and yellow spider flowers.
Grevillea ripicola click for larger image |
We now move into the Sydney Region Gully and notice on the right Epacris calvertiana var. calvertiana [Section 191j] with white bells on a green heathlike bush. We turn down through the Eucalypt Lawn and as we enter the Acacia Section we see the winter flowering Acacia flexifolia [Section 18] with cheerful golden balls on a low bush. Opposite the Rock Pool is the lovely Guichenotia ledifolia [Section 4] with dusty pink cupped flowers hanging on a grey bush. We continue past the Wollemi Pines and down the Rainforest Gully. On the right just before the Visitors Centre is Banksia spinulosa var. spinulosa [Section 210] with gold blooms and contrasting black pistils.
Rosalind Walcott