Today we will walk to the Rock Garden.

1. As you enter the Rock Garden notice on your left Banksia integrifolia subsp. integrifolia [Section 15c], or Coast Banksia, a vigorous mound of foliage and flowers, with dark green leaves with silver backs and plenty of short greenish-yellow cones. This versatile and hardy plant is native to coastal eastern Australia.
2. Correa ‘Ivory Bells’[Section 15d] is on your right with creamy bell flowers on darker green foliage with silver backs. This long-flowering cultivar was developed in San Francisco, USA and is said to have C. alba and C. backhouseana as its parents.
3. Also on your right is Banksia spinulosa ‘Honeypots’ [Section 15d], a medium-sized bush with fine, upright toothed foliage and many gold cones with red styles and a strong honey fragrance. The original material of this cultivar was collected from a coastal area in southern Victoria by Rod & Robyn Parsons.
4. Further on your right is Homoranthus darwinioides [Section 15f], with dark purple-grey foliage and hanging red bell flowers fading to cream. It is endemic to central western New South Wales.
5. Bear left up the steps to see Grevillea ‘Mason’s Hybrid’ [Section 15h], forming a spreading bush with large spider blooms of pink, red and orange. This hybrid arose as a seedling from seed collected from an upright glaucous form of Grevillea bipinnatifida. The other parent is presumed to be G. banksii.
6. At the top of the steps on your right is Grevillea lanigera [Section 15h], with grey-green foliage and pink and cream flowers on a low bush. It is commonly known as Woolly Grevillea, and is endemic to Victoria and New South Wales.
7. Turn right along the road to see Scaevola albida [Section 174], also on your right, a prostrate shrub native to a range of habitats in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. It has mauve fan flowers on a light green groundcover.
8. Further on your right is Westringia ‘Deeppurple’ [Section 15h], with mauve flowers on a compact green bush. This form was selected from the Wild Rivers region of New South Wales.
9. Turn right into the Rock Garden again to see on your right Brachyscome linearifolia [Section 15h], with small mauve daisy flowers on mounds of green divided foliage. These plants are found in the wild in eastern New South Wales.
10. On your left is Keraudrenia hermanniifolia [Section 15g], a small bush of dark green foliage with purple flowers with prominent gold centres. This plant is found in coastal regions of Western Australia.
11. Look up to see high on your left Senna artemisioides subsp. petiolaris [Section 15g], with fine silver foliage and yellow cup flowers. This plant is found across mainland Australia, except for Victoria.
12. Turn left and left again, cross the plank bridge and bear right to see Acacia aneura var. aneura [Section 15l], or Mulga, on the right. An open bush with needle-like foliage and short fluffy yellow rods of flower, Mulga, occurs in inland Australia and individuals are believed to live as long as 400 years.
13. Turn left and then right down the steps to see on your left a large bush of Labichea lanceolata subsp. lanceolata [Section 15r], with bright green foliage and yellow flowers with a red throat. It is found naturally in southwest Western Australia, and was named after Jean Jacques Labiche (1748–1819), a second lieutenant on Freycinet's voyage round the world in 1817–20.
14. Also on your left is Eremophila bignoniiflora × polyclada [Section 15r], with white bell flowers with purple spots on an open shrub with pendent linear leaves.
15. At the bottom of the steps on your right is Eucalyptus macrocarpa [Section 15s], or Mottlecah, with magnificent silver- grey sword like foliage. This sprawling mallee grows naturally in southwestern Western Australia. Its stunning red flowers attract hummingbirds when grown in USA.

Rosalind Walcott