On these cool sunny days it is refreshing to inspect the flowers in the Western Mallee Section, which contains plants from South and Western Australia. It is also a chance to view the construction of the new Red Centre Garden site. The walk starts at the Ducrou Pavilion on the Eucalypt Lawn.

1. Edging the Red Centre site a native tobacco plant, Nicotiana rosulata subsp. ingulba, is dense with white flowers.
2. Nearby Sturt’s Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa, continues to bear a few of its large dark-centred red pea-shaped flowers scattered among the rocks.
3. Grevillea lanigera [Section 300] with pink-cream flowers is one of many groundcovers seen on the opposite side of the road.
4. Edging this road, Melaleuca radula [Section 100b] is an upright shrub with terminal fluffy mauve flowers in clusters.
5. A blue-bush, Maireana sedifolia [Section 100b], is a small plant with grey fleshy foliage, attractive though not flowering.
6. An emu bush, Eremophila youngii [Section 100b], with rose‑coloured tube‑shaped flowers is seen here among other shrubs.
7. At the corner Eremophila warnesii [Section 100b] is a small upright plant with velvety foliage and deep purple flowers.
8. Behind this is Eremophila forrestii subsp. forrestii [Section 100b] with many pink-white tube‑shaped flowers.
9. Entering the boardwalk, Eremophila christopheri [Section 100a] has mauve, almost pendulous tube-shaped flowers on the dense medium shrub.
10. Gastrolobium propinquum [Section 100b] has tiny red-centred orange pea-shaped flowers on this spreading shrub.
11. Adenanthos obovatus [Section 100a] is a small upright plant clad with red flowers having long red styles.
12. Further along, Thryptomene denticulata [Section 100b] has low arching branches bright with tiny pink flowers.
13. Rounding the corner Thomasia petalocalyx [Section 100a] has a sprinkling of pink downturned flowers.
14. Continuing along this other side, Diplolaena grandiflora [Section 100a] has prominent orange-red flowers held in bracts.
15. Banksia epica [Section 100a] is a shrub of medium size bright with many large rounded yellow flower spikes.
16. Baeckea crassifolia [Section 100a] is well‑covered with tiny mauve flowers over the small many‑branched shrub.
17. A wattle, Acacia alata var. biglandulosa [Section 100c], is a large shrub dense with long zig-zag flattened branches and with single cream fluffy flowers.
18. Crowded beside is Hakea cycloptera [Section 100c], with needle‑like foliage and profuse with white lacy flowers.
19. Hypocalymma jessicae [Section 100a] is of medium size with tiny pink flowers edging its many branches.
20. Behind this shrub, Banksia heliantha [Section 100a] is of medium size with large terminal yellow flower heads.
21. Astartea sp. [Section 100c] is an upright shrub of medium size bearing a profusion of white‑petalled flowers.
22. At the exit Correa reflexa ‘Kangaroo Island form’ [Section 100a], also of medium size and crowded among other plants, has slim tubular red flowers with cream mouths.
23. Close to the exit, Taxandria marginata [Section 100c] previously Agonis is a tall many‑branched shrub with terminal clusters of dark‑centred white flowers, seen best above the path.
24. In the distance is a white holly, Auranticarpa rhombifolia [Section 96], a small tree bright with orange fruits.

Barbara Daly