This walk passes numerous flowering plants of which only a few will be mentioned.  It is interesting to view the many banksias now producing immature flower spikes.

1.  Pots beside the doors of the Visitor Centre are bright with Rhododendron viriosum with orange-red bell-shaped flowers and the large red dark-centred pea-shaped flowers of the Sturt’s Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa. Another pot edging Banks Walk contains a small blue-flowering plant, Platytheca galioides [Section 174].
2. Ground-covering Scaevola albida [Section 174] is a dense plant with pink fan-shaped flowers.
3. Another ground cover, Pelargonium rodneyanum [Section 174], is also dense and bright with cerise flowers.
4. Take the Main Path past the cafe to view Correa ‘Canberra Bells’ [Section 240], the flower selected to commemorate Canberra’s centenary in 2013. They are most attractive with their red and yellow bell-shaped flowers.
5. The backdrop is Correa ‘Summer Belle’ [Section 240] with differing leaf shapes and slimmer bell-shaped flowers.
6. At the end of this section Callistemon viminalis [Section 310] is a large spreading shrub with willowy habit crowned with deep red bottlebrush flowers.
7. Take the road to the left beside the building, passing Melaleuca lanceolata [Section 10], a woody many-branched shrub crowned in profusion with small ivory-shaded bottlebrush-like flowers.
8. Take the path to the right where a newly developed area displays emu bushes including Eremophila strongylophylla, [Section 302], a low spreading plant with violet trumpet-shaped flowers.
9. At the next corner Callistemon chisholmii [Section 10] has soft pink bottlebrush flowers dangling from its willowy branches.
10. Down the side-road the large shrub clad with red bottlebrushes is Callistemon citrinus [Section 9]. Opposite it is Callistemon brachyandrus [Section 11] which is covered with orange-coloured bottlebrushes.
11. Follow the Main Path to the right.  A group of waratahs includes Telopea mongaensis [Section 30], a smaller shrub displaying its deep pink flowers.
12. Babingtonia ‘Howie’s Feathertips’ [Section 30] is sprinkled with tiny white flowers over the fresh green shrub.
13. Banksia ‘Birthday Candles’ [Section 30] is a dwarf spreading shrub bearing many pencil thin green immature flower spikes.
14. At the next crossroad, Grevillea ‘Coconut Ice’ [Section 25] has large terminal red-cream flower spikes on a low spreading shrub.
15. Across the road Grevillea ‘Lady O’ [Section 26] has long lateral branches on the low shrub which bears bright red flowers.
16.  Grevillea juniperina ‘Pink Lady’ [Section 24] is a low spreading shrub bearing many soft pink terminal flowers.
17. Following the Main Path, a Geebung, Persoonia acerosa [Section 26], is a low dense shrub with short fine leaves covering the branches which terminate with tiny narrow tubular yellow flowers.
18. Beside it is Grevillea ‘Canterbury Gold’ [Section 26] with golden yellow spider-like flowers on the low lateral branches.
19. Across the next road, filling a corner is a picturesque setting of Correa ‘Canberra Bells’ [Section 112] bearing colourful red and yellow bell-shaped flowers.

Return by any path in a reverse direction where other flowers can be admired.

Barbara Daly