Swainsona formosa click for larger image

Our 40th Anniversary Open Day has passed but our flowers, they keep on coming on! Orchids in and opposite the doors of the Visitors Information Centre are so showy. The flowers along Banks Walk are dazzling and include numerous waratahs, mostly Telopea speciosissima [Section 174, 210]. Pots contain the renowned Sturt’s Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa, with its vivid red black-centred pea-shaped flowers, perfumed Boronia heterophylla shaded red, Lechenaultia biloba so exquisitely blue, and more.

But this walk is about the Rock Garden, so to get there follow the road on the far side of the Rainforest. Turn right when you reach the Main Path which will take you to the Rock Garden waterfall. There are flowers all the way!

Selected plants include Rulingia hermanniifolia [Section 15c], a rounded, low spreading shrub white with tiny flowers. Opposite are pockets of white daisy-like flowers, Rhodanthe anthemoides [Section 15d and later, 15s], seen between the rocks. Flowing down the rock face beside the waterfall Grevillea ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ [Section 15d] is deep red with toothbrush-like flowers, while close beside is Dampiera salahae [Section 15d], a small trailing plant with flowers so blue. Conostylis candicans [Section 15d, 15e] is a tufted plant with short strappy leaves and heads of globular yellow flowers. Conostylis seorsiflora [Section 15e] is so different having small yellow star flowers over the prostrate plant. Banksia blechnifolia [Section 15d] is another prostrate plant with deeply lobed vertical leaves and pink-ochre immature flower spikes (seen close to the bridge) all rising from the ground.

Hibbertia fasciculata [Section 15f] has a covering of open yellow flowers over the small spreading shrub. At the base of the stairs, Westringia glabra [Section 15a] is a shrub of medium size bearing many pink flowers. It is mixed with Bulbine glauca [Section 15a], showy with terminal yellow flowers on long upright stems surrounded by glaucous strappy leaves. Edging the stairs is the grand old Grevillea ‘Mason’s Hybrid’ [Section 15h], its large branches revealing terminal red flower spikes. At the top of the stairs Homoranthus bornhardtiensis [Section 15a] is a flat-topped shrub with terminal horizontal yellow nectar-glistening flower clusters. Edging the road is Grevillea rhyolitica subsp. rhyolitica [Section 15h], a small shrub with red flower clusters. Here also is Thomasia petalocalyx [Section 15h], a dense shrub bearing downturned pink flowers, and Blue Tinsel lily, Calectasia intermedia [Section 15h], a small shrub clad with metallic blue starry flowers.

Senna artemisioides click for larger image

Across the path Telopea ‘Corroboree’ [Section 15j] stands majestically in the garden. It is quite a tall many branched shrub crowned with many heads of red flowers. Take the path down between grass trees, Xanthorrhoea johnsonii [Sections15j, 14], displaying tall stems with terminal maturing cream flower heads. Senna artemisioides subsp. filifolia [Section 14] is an upright shrub clad with bright yellow cup-shaped flowers. On the lower landing is a group of Olearia asterotricha [Section 15L], upright plants with white daisy-like flowers.

Following the downwards path, a pot of Verticordia galeata, a small shrub with yellow feathery flowers, mixes with Verticordia pennigera, a more open plant with pink feathery flowers. Telopea ‘Wirrimbirra White’ [Section 15r] stands tall with many large white flower heads. At the bottom of this path, turn left where there is an enclosure containing paper daisies, Rhodanthe chlorocephala subsp. rosea [Section 4], dense and pretty with all shades of pink. Look back past the ponds to view the Gymea Lily, Doryanthes excelsa [Section 15c], its base surrounded by large sword-like leaves, its elongated flower spikes bearing large heads of red flowers.

And that is only a few flowers to look at … Barbara Daly