what's flowering june

WHAT'S IN FLOWER JUNE 2006

Beside the gallery near the high tank is a delightful area to wander while enjoying your cuppa from the thermos. Eucalyptus pachyphylla, youngiana, and kruseana are flowering and Hakea fraseri has buds ready to open. Do remember to wear your hat and sturdy boots in the Garden. In spite of our very dry conditions, there are still flowers to see.

If you start from the gallery and drive/walk clockwise around the white gravel loop road, you will come first to the old eucalypt walk with many different eucalypts beginning their flowering season. Take a brochure and walk the trail if you have time.

At the Garden for all Seasons, the tiny spiny cryptandras near the picnic tables are in various stages of blooming; covered with tiny white flowers.

Near the row of bronzed trunked Eucalyptus salubris, several rusty red bushes catch the eye on either side of the road. These melaleucas are not dying, but change to this colour in winter and now have tiny white flowers.

Banksia ashbyi, sometimes known as 'golden candles' is always good to view in winter with its large orange flowers. Also Eucalyptus grossa sprawls behind it in bud.

The far western end of the Garden has a local species, Babingtonia jucunda, with small white flowers along the low arching branches. Walk this area for better appreciation.

The original 'Robyn Gordon' plant is found near the Gordon Grevilleas sign: follow the track and see if you can find all the parent plants of the three Gordon Grevilleas.

Gumnut walk is a treat, with a concentration of low growing eucalypts. It allows you to get up close and personal and look at the different shapes of buds, caps and gumnuts. A great photo to snap is the caps just cracking open to release the stamens. Many here are in flower now and will continue to improve as winter progresses. Nearby are some silver leaved species, Eucalyptus crucis and tetraptera. Please remember, this is a botanic garden and it is not allowed to remove any plant material.

Honeyeater Walk. An interesting grey leaved Grevillea kennedyana always looks like it is dying, but this is its natural foliage colour. Its red flowers are such a contrast. Nearby Grevillea thelemanniana is providing much needed food for hungry birds.

Many eremophilas are growing throughout the Garden and some may be in flower with shades of lavender, pink, purple and white (E. polyclada). Spring is always the best time to view our Garden, but there is always something new to discover for those who really look.

I hope you enjoy it as much as the volunteers who look after it do.