Today we will walk to the rear of the Rock Garden, where the warm weather has brought many plants into flower all along the path.

1. Turn right as you exit the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) to see on your left Hibbertia empetrifolia [Section 210], a groundcover with small green leaves and wiry stems ending in yellow flowers, from south-eastern New South Wales.
2. On your right in a pot is Chorizema cordatum [Section 174], or Heart-leaved Flame Pea, a showy plant with vivid red flowers on a weeping shrub with bright green prickly foliage. It grows naturally in the moist south-western parts of Western Australia.
3. Bear left up the hill past the café. Further on your right is Grevillea ‘White Wings’ [Section 124], a large shrub with arching sprays of light green leaves and white starbursts of flower.
4. As you bear right at the top of the hill, look to your left to see Chamelaucium uncinatum ‘Murfit Rose’ [Section 17], a light airy bush with needle foliage and dark pink flowers with even darker centres. This plant is a form of Geraldton Wax and the flowers darken as they age. This cultivar was developed from a chance seedling of C. uncinatum that arose in a cleared paddock at Waggrakine (near Geraldton), Western Australia.
5. On the corner on your right is Ranunculus collinus [Section 78], a low green groundcover with bright yellow flowers. It is native to southeastern Australia.
6. Further on your right is Leptospermum multicaule [Section 79], a small bush with tiny dark green foliage and plenty of white “tea-tree” flowers. It is native to New South Wales and Victoria.
7. On your left Leptospermum brevipes [Section 120], or SlenderTea-tree, a small tree with grey-green foliage and white flowers. It is found in the wild in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
8. Along the top of the Rock Garden on your right is Hypocalymma angustifolium subsp. angustifolium [Section 15h], a small bush with arching sprays of pink buds and paler pink fluffy flowers fading to white. It is native to south-western Western Australia.
9. Also on your right is Androcalva luteiflora [Section 15h], a rounded bush with small round foliage and yellow cup-like flowers with red centres. It grows naturally in Western Australia.
10. The tall shrub with upright habit on your right is Telopea speciocissima ‘Corroboree’ [Section 15j] with bright red/pink “waratah” flower-heads. This cultivar was selected in 1974 by Nanette Cuming from seedlings of Telopea speciosissima purchased from Breakoday Nursery in Box Hill, Victoria.
11. On your left is Acacia granitica [Section 3], a spreading bush with light green needle foliage and yellow balls of flowers. It grows naturally in northern New South Wales and Queensland.
12. Grevillea monticola, [Section 14] on your right has prickly “holly-like” foliage with many rusty orange buds which open to small white toothbrush flowers. It is endemic to south western Western Australia.
13. Look down to your right to see Acacia lineata [Section 14], or Streaked Wattle, a small bush with gold sprays of flower clusters on dark green foliage. It is found in south-eastern mainland Australia.
14. On your right is Hakea horrida [Section 14], with extremely prickly, intricate needle foliage and white fluffy flowers. It is native to south-western Western Australia.
15. Further on your right is Hakea macraeana [Section 20], or Needle-wood, a small tree with fine drooping foliage and white flowers along the stems. It is native to eastern Australia.

Rosalind Walcott