In Flower This Week
A weekly news sheet prepared by a Gardens' volunteer.
Numbers before each plant refer to temporary IFTW labels in the gardens.
Numbers in square brackets [ ] refer to garden bed Sections. Plants in flower are in bold type.
View past issues of 'In Flower This Week'.
27 December 2013
Blandfordia grandiflora click for larger image |
We will start our walk from the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) then head up the hill past the rear of the café.
- As you leave the VIC there is a magnificent display of Christmas Bells, Blandfordia grandiflora [Section 221], in a pot. These are very large red bells tipped with yellow, held on wiry stems above grass-like foliage.
- Now look on your right to see Swainsona formosa [Section 221] or Sturt’s Desert Pea, with its brilliant red flowers contrasting happily with the grey‑green divided foliage.
- Further on your right is Anigozanthos ‘Bush Pioneer’ [Section 174], a tall yellow-green Kangaroo Paw flower with red stems.
- Turn up the hill to see on your left Clerodendrum floribundum var. attenuatum [Section 125], or Lolly Bush, a small tree in full bloom with clusters of strongly-scented white flowers against dark green foliage.
- Cymbidium suave [Section 125] on your left is an orchid with sprays of small greenish flowers and strap-like foliage growing out of a log.
- To the right is a large area of the prostrate groundcover Grevillea ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ [Section 124], with masses of red toothbrush flowers and persistent attention from the birds.
- Melaleuca linariifolia ‘Snowstorm’ [Section 124] is a small tree with twisted branches, fine foliage and white fluffy flowers.
- Senna acclinis [Section 104] is a small shrub with divided foliage and dark yellow pea blooms with long seed-pods forming.
- On your left is a tall bush, Hibiscus splendens [Section 104], with broad shield-shaped leaves and large pink flowers with maroon centres.
- Another hibiscus on your left is a Hibiscus splendens hybrid [Section 104] with bright lipstick-pink flowers and broad coarse foliage.
- On your right free-flowering Anigozanthos flavidus [Section 17] forms a mass of rusty red and green paw flowers.
- Leptospermum subglabratum [Section 17] shows masses of five-petalled white star flowers with small green foliage.
- Turn right along the road to see Chamelaucium uncinatum ‘Murfit Rose’ [Section 17] with pink flowers fading to darker pink on an airy bush.
- Chrysocephalum apiculatum [Section 17] has cheerful bright yellow flowers on attractive grey-green foliage.
- Veronica derwentiana subsp. derwentiana [Section 123] has terminal sprays of white flowers on lacy bright green foliage.
- Turn right down the mulched path to the Silky Oak, Grevillea robusta [Section 79], a large tree with divided foliage and long brushes of golden yellow flowers dripping with nectar.
- A tall green bush on your right is Austromyrtus tenuifolia [Section 16] with masses of small white flowers.
- Also on your left is an open bush with dark green sharp-pointed leaves, Podolobium aciculiferum [Section 15c], which has small bright yellow pea flowers.
- Babingtonia pluriflora [Section 16] is a small tree with masses of tiny white flowers on small bright green foliage.
- On the left is the Wallum Banksia or Banksia aemula [Section 15c], with lots of dark brown spent cones but also lots of small light green new cones.
- Babingtonia ‘Howie’s Feathertips’ [Section 110] is a large bush of dense light green foliage with masses of tiny white flowers.
Rosalind Walcott