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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

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Further on your right is Anigozanthos ‘Bush Pioneer’ [Section 174], a tall yellow-green Kangaroo Paw flower with red stems.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Melaleuca linariifolia ‘Snowstorm’ [Section 124] is a small tree with twisted branches, fine foliage and white fluffy flowers.
  8. Senna acclinis [Section 104] is a small shrub with divided foliage and dark yellow pea blooms with long seed-pods forming.
  9. On your left is a tall bush, Hibiscus splendens [Section 104], with broad shield-shaped leaves and large pink flowers with maroon centres.
  10. Another hibiscus on your left is a Hibiscus splendens hybrid [Section 104] with bright lipstick-pink flowers and broad coarse foliage.
  11. On your right free-flowering Anigozanthos flavidus [Section 17] forms a mass of rusty red and green paw flowers.
  12. Leptospermum subglabratum [Section 17] shows masses of five-petalled white star flowers with small green foliage.
  13. Turn right along the road to see Chamelaucium uncinatum ‘Murfit Rose’ [Section 17] with pink flowers fading to darker pink on an airy bush.
  14. Chrysocephalum apiculatum [Section 17] has cheerful bright yellow flowers on attractive grey-green foliage.
  15. Veronica derwentiana subsp. derwentiana [Section 123] has terminal sprays of white flowers on lacy bright green foliage.
  16. 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.
  17. A tall green bush on your right is Austromyrtus tenuifolia [Section 16] with masses of small white flowers.
  18. 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.
  19. Babingtonia pluriflora [Section 16] is a small tree with masses of tiny white flowers on small bright green foliage.
  20. 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.
  21. Babingtonia ‘Howie’s Feathertips’ [Section 110] is a large bush of dense light green foliage with masses of tiny white flowers.
 Rosalind Walcott