We will walk to the Rock Garden today, as there are many choice plants in flower there.

1. Walk up the road past the café until you see the sign to the Rock Garden. On your left as you turn right is Doryanthes palmeri [Section 114] or Giant Spear Lily. This plant has a spectacular flower-spike. The huge nodding cluster of bright red flowers is much-visited by Wattlebirds and other honeyeaters. The plant grows in a rosette and the leaves can reach the length of about 3 metres. The flower spike may reach up to 5 metres.
2. Enter the Rock Garden up the steps to see on your right Doryanthes excelsa, or Gymea Lily [Section 15d]. This plant is indigenous to the coastal areas of New South Wales near Sydney. It has sword-like leaves more than a metre long and flower spikes 2-4 metres high.
3. Also on your right in a pot is Hibbertia pedunculata [Section 15d], with bright yellow flowers on fine creeping foliage. The species name ‘pedunculata’ refers to the long peduncle or stalk of each flower.
4. Further on your right is Grevillea ‘Poorinda Royal Mantle’ [Section 15d], with red toothbrush flowers on a vigorous sprawling groundcover.
5. As you continue up the hill on your left is Leptospermum variabile [Section 15c], a large shrub with many branches, small leaves and numerous white ‘tea-tree’ flowers. This plant is native to northern New South Wales and Queensland.
6. Look to your left to see Eremaea pauciflora var. pauciflora [Section 15b], a small sprawling shrub with orange flowers. It grown naturally in southwest Western Australia.
7. Notice on your left Viola hederacea [Section 15a], a small mauve and white violet on a close groundcover. It is common and widespread in Victoria and Tasmania, along the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales, in the far south-east of South Australia, and in a small area of the Adelaide Hills.
8. Turn right, then right again to see on your right Verticordia galeata [Section 15f] with small bright yellow honey-scented flowers in profusion. It is found naturally near Geraldton, Western Australia.
9. Turn left across the plank bridge to see in a pot on your left Olearia megalophylla [Section 15m]. Its white daisy flower-heads have yellow centres and are strongly scented. The large leaves are dark green above and woolly underneath. The plant is native to southern New South Wales and Victoria.
10. Turn right down the hill to see on your right Leptospermum jingera [Section 15q], a large bush with drooping branches and white flowers that is endemic to Victoria.
11. On your right is Prostanthera hirtula [Section 15q], a white-flowered Mint Bush with small greyish leaves, found naturally in New South Wales and Victoria.
12. Go down the steps, then turn left up the other flight of steps to see on your right Eremophila bignoniiflora x polyclada [Section 15r]. This hybrid has large white bell-flowers with purple spots on an open linear-leaved shrub.
13. On the right is Alyogyne ‘West Coast Gem’ [Section 15r], with clear purple ‘hibiscus’-type flowers which open for a short period only but are prolific. The bush is medium-sized with coarse foliage.
14. Also on the right is Labichea lanceolata subsp. lanceolata [Section 15r], a large bush with bright green foliage and yellow flowers with a red throat. It is found naturally in south-west Western Australia, named after Jean Jacques Labiche (1748–1819), a second lieutenant on Freycinet's 1817-20 voyage around the world.
15. Also on your right in a pot is Darwinia oxylepis [Section 15r], with dainty green foliage and pink bell-flowers.

Rosalind Walcott