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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.

View past issues of 'In Flower This Week'.

19 November 2010

flower image

The colourful magenta flowers edging the road to the entrance of the gardens are those of tea-tree, Leptospermum ‘Outrageous’ … some sight! The gardens are a blaze of colour and this walk will mention few of the many seen from the paths. Outside the Visitors Centre, in a pot is Hakea pulvinifera clad with long needle-like foliage and clusters of cream curvaceous flowers, both rare and endangered. Edging Banks Walk Scaevola aemula [Section 174] a prostrate spreading plant with white throated, blue-mauve fan-shaped flowers. Leptospermum 'Merinda’ [Section 210] with cherry coloured open petalled flowers edges the path. Epacris longiflora [Section 174] in a group displays its cream tubular flowers in rows dangling from its wandering branches. Isopogon ‘Little Drumsticks’[Section 210] presents its yellow terminal flowers over a low spreading shrub. Leptospermum ‘Outrageous’[Section 174] bears its dark red flowers on the upright branches. At the corner Grevillea ‘Lady O’[Section 174] is a small spreading shrub clad with red spider flowers.

Edging the side path LeptospermumPink Cascade[Section 240] has a coverage of pale pink flowers over the shrub which leans towards the path. Grevillea johnsonii x wilsonii [Section 240] has large sprays of deep pink flowers on the long arching branches while Tetratheca ciliata [Section 240] is a low spreading shrub white with downturned flowers. Taking the path to the left past the building where Leptospermum ‘Lavender Queen’[Section 131] yet small shrubs bearing soft pink flowers. Continuing, groups of kangaroo paws, Anigozanthos flavidus [Section 127] have pale green ‘paw’ shaped flowers developing on long upright stems surrounded by shorter strappy leaves. At the next corner Melaleuca fulgens [Section 127] has a covering of large orange bottlebrush-like flowers over the medium sized shrub. At the opposite corner Callistemon ‘Harkness’ [Section 124] is tall with rich red terminal bottlebrush-like flowers on its willowy branches. Across the road, also tall is Callistemon salignus [Section 10], a many branched shrub laden with small cream flowers. Mint bushes, Prostanthera sieberi [Section 6] is tall and well covered with purple bugle flowers while beside, Prostanthera saxicola var. major [Section 6] is a lower shrub white with flowers.

Entering the Brittle Gum Lawn, walk below the arching branches of Callistemon salignus [Section 107] which bears pink bottlebrush flowers. On the opposite side of the lawn, Grevillea ‘Robyn Gordon’[Section 109] is a low spreading shrub displaying large heads of red flowers.

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Walking down the road edging the Rainforest a group of smaller shrubs include Leptospermum ‘Outrageous’ [Section 124] clad with dark red flowers, Leptospermum ‘Tickled Pink’[Section 124] with paler flowers and Grevillea ‘Goldfever’[Section 124] a low spreading shrub with apricot coloured flowers. Almost opposite Native Elderberry, Cuttsia viburnea [Section 125] is a large dense shrub with shiny leaves and with large sprays of buds now maturing to small white flowers. Close by, orchids include Dendrobium delicatum [Section 125] on rocks, with sprays of cream flowers. A group of Grevillea rosmarinifolia ‘Rosy Posy’[Section 128] displaying its pink-cream flowers over the small shrubs. The coffee shop is across the road!

 

A most pleasant walk, today, in the rain … Barbara Daly.

 

 

 

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