A walk along the curvaceous Main Path in cold, fog and frost is still a warming experience. It starts at the far end of the building adjoining the café and roams through the Sydney Basin, the Rock Garden and past the Rainforest Gully.

1. A wattle, Acacia alata var. biglandulosa [Section 240] is bright with its small cream flower balls attached to the odd zigzag stems. The shrub is of medium height and is quite dense.
2. Follow the Main Path passing Thryptomene saxicola [Section 10], an upright shrub with arching branches clad with tiny white flowers.
3. Astartea ‘Winter Pink’ [Section 10] is slim and upright with tiny pink flowers.
4. An emu bush, Eremophila strongyophylla [Section 302], in a pot, has deep purple flowers on its trailing stems.
5. A heath-leaved banksia, Banksia ericifolia [Section 30], is a large spreading shrub with limbs clad with upright cylindrical golden flower spikes.
6. Beside the seat Grevillea diminuta [Section 30] has dangling threads of buds now opening to clusters of rust-red flowers.
7. Almost opposite Banksia heliantha [Section 30] is a low plant with large disc shaped yellow flower heads among the oak-like leaves.
8. Close by is Banksia ‘Honeypots’ [Section 30], an open shrub displaying its honey‑ coloured flower spikes.
9. The next bright shrub is Banksia spinulosa var. neoanglica [Section 25], neatly rounded and profusely clad with yellow flowers.
10. Crowded beside is Grevillea dimorpha [Section 25], with its buds attached to the stems.
11. Almost at the crossroads, Buckinghamia celsissima [Section 27] has terminal sprays of long cream flowers atop the upright tree.
12. Beside is a Firewheel Tree, Stenocarpus sinuatus [Section 27], well covered with large lobed leaves that almost conceal whorls of orange-red flowers.
13. Across the road Grevillea ‘Lady O’ [Section 26] continues to be picturesque with its coverage of red flowers over the low arching branches.
14. Many grevilleas are seen throughout this section. At the next crossroads, Grevillea vestita subsp. isopogoides [Section 26] is a low spreading dense shrub well covered with white feathery flowers.
15. Across the road Correa ‘Marian’s Marvel’ [Section 112] is a dense shrub edging the path, with pink and yellow tube-shaped flowers.
16. The path then winds through the Sydney Basin where only few shrubs are in flower.  They include a wattle, Acacia terminalis [Section 191h], clad with yellow fluffy flowers.
17. Black-eyed Susan, Tetratheca thymifolia Section 191j], is a low dense plant with few downturned pink flowers with dark centres.  It is seen at the turn-off to the glasshouses.
18. Towards the exit, behind the circular seat, Crowea saligna [Section 191u] is a low spreading shrub bright with attractive pink star-shaped flowers.
19. The winding road through the Eucalypt Lawns and an area of wattles passes by Hakea obtusa [Section 20], a large rounded shrub with rounded red or cream flowers attached to the branches behind the foliage.
20. The Rock Garden has many flowers, including Guichenotia ledifolia [Section 4] with an array of pink cup-shaped downturned flowers over the dense rounded shrub.
21. Grevillea lanigera [Section 15c] is a low spreading shrub with a coverage of deep pink flowers.

Cross to the edge of the Rainforest with its many shades of green then follow the road back to the café.

Barbara Daly