In Flower This Week A weekly news-sheet prepared by a Gardens volunteer Numbers in brackets [ ] refer to garden bed 'Sections'.

26 December 1997

After absorbing the wonders of the `Above the Snow Gums' display in the Visitor Centre, obtain the pamphlet `A walk along the new Main Path' for this walk will follow that path, starting at the Cafe with the yummy foods and super coffee.

Bracteantha bracteata `Diamond Head' [Section 131] are dense, low growing plants bearing many bright paper daisies on short stems. Melaleuca linariifolia var. linariifolia [Section 10] is a large shrub with many wandering papery trunks and a dense crown of fluffy, white flowers. A small plant, Eremophila racemosa [Section 9] has yellow to orange buds which mature to reddish-purple tubular flowers.

Walk along the avenue of sedges and grasses where the grass tree, Xanthorrhoea glauca subsp. glauca [Section 8] exhibits its well arranged curvaceous green skirt and tall, browning flower spike. Anigozanthos flavidus [Section 8] has long, bare stems topped with green `paw' flowers. Then continue through an area of grevilleas where Grevillea juniperina [Section 27] clusters its cheery orange-red flowers on the tips of its branches. This shrub is quite large.

Edging the winding path which wanders through the recently planted area of the Sydney Flora Region, see Scaevola ramosissima [Section 191] a low, lovely and sprawling plant with stems bearing large, purple fan-flowers. Goodenia heterophylla subsp. montana [Section 191] is somewhat more compact and bears petite yellow flowers. At the next seat, the blue star-like flowers of Isotoma axillaris [Section 191] and the yellow flowers of Hibbertia diffusa [Section 191] are harmonious with the large sand-stone rocks. Below the wall containing a selection of leaves of the fossil seed-fern Glossopteris, the cream flowering tree, Backhousia myrtifolia [Section 191] can be seen. Further along the path Eucalyptus luehmanniana [Section 191], with smooth silvery trunks, bears, in profusion, its soft, lacy white flowers. Uphill is a small garden of Flannel Flowers, Actinotus helianthi [Section 191] with grey foliage and splendid, daisy-like white velvet flowers and in the distance, Cassinia aureo-nitens [Section 191], is quite dense, bearing large yellow flower-heads .

Cross the Eucalypt Lawns to the Rock Garden where there are many flowers to enjoy. Continue to the Rainforest Gully to feel the coolness, the freshness and the varying shades of green. See Cordyline congesta [Section 147], a palm-like, slender plant with small, mauve flowers on open stems. Down the stairs Dorrego Waratah, Alloxylon pinnatum [Section 148] is an attractive, small tree bearing, as yet, few pinkish-red flowers in loose terminal heads. Just prior to leaving the Rainforest coolness, see the Victorian Christmas Bush, Prostanthera lasianthos [Section 148] a shrub of medium size, beside the boardwalk, with terminal sprays of white flowers.

A happy and healthy 1998 to you all ...

Barbara Daly.