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

These cooling, sunny days encourage an enjoyable walk up above the Nursery. On the way see the lovely Hakea crassinervia [Section 221], a low, sprawling plant adorned with showy pink semi-globular flower heads with protruding cream styles clustered along its branches. This is an endangered plant in WA as a result of land clearance. Correa pulchella `Pink Mist' [Section 119] is a neat, small, many branched plant bearing many soft pink pendulous bell-like flowers. Callistemon pachyphyllus `Smoked Salmon' [Section 110] is of medium size with pink bottlebrushes. Take time to ramble through the Rockery for there are many colourful plants, then see Hakea petiolaris, Sea-urchin Hakea [Section 4], a large, old rounded shrub bearing deep red globular flower heads with white protruding styles clinging to the woody branches. Acacia fauntleroyi [Section 3] is a medium shrub with a bare trunk clad with reddish bark and a canopy of yellow flower balls scattered among the foliage.

Banksia ericifolia var. ericifolia [Section 103] is a 25-year-old shrub densely clad with fine needle foliage and glowing with golden flower spikes. The colourful straw daisies, Bracteantha bracteata [Section 103] at the corner are so attractive with colours of pink, yellow and varying shades of red, including a deep rust-red. Pittosporum rhombifolium [Section 96] is a small tree with glossy leaves and high-lighted with dense clusters of orange fruits. See also Pittosporum revolutum [Section 96] a medium open shrub not as attractive as the former. Its leaves are duller and velvety, the orange fruits are ellipsoid in shape. Both species have red seeds.

At the base of Banksia spinulosa var. cunninghamii `Lemon Glow' [Section 87] which bears dull lemon flower spikes ribbed with dark styles, are Crowea exalata `Austraflora Green Cape' [Section 87], a small, rounded shrub with fine, pink star flowers and Crowea `Misty Pink' [Section 87], a dense shrub well covered with flowers. Behind is Crowea `Festival' [Section 87], a more open shrub with deep pink flowers. Callistemon citrinus `Austraflora Firebrand' [Section 87] has fiery red bottlebrushes and opposite, Callistemon citrinus `Demesne Rowena' [Section 87] displays cherry-coloured flowers.

Across the road, along a narrow, winding path, Crowea exalata [Section 150] spreads its branches well covered with its pink flowers. Almost opposite is a very old shrub, its collapsed trunk snaking along the ground with the upright branches supporting fine, divided leaves and showered with perfumed, white ovoid flowers with a fine dusting of pink. This shrub is Hakea suaveolens [Section 75].

Well worth the walk ...

Barbara Daly.