Let’s walk to the Rock Garden today to see what is in flower there on a cool winter’s day.

1. Olearia argophylla [Section 305], or Native Musk, on your right is a tall shrub or small tree with felted grey leaves and white, strongly-scented flowers. It is an east coast plant which grows naturally in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.
2. Grevillea rosmarinifolia ‘Rosy Posy’ [Section 128] on your right is a compact bush with linear foliage and pendent racemes of pink and cream flowers.
3. Grevillea ‘Goldfever’ [Section 124], again on your right, is a low spreading shrub that produces golden flowers for most of the year. It is a cross between Grevillea rhyolitica and a prostrate yellow-flowered form of G. juniperina, originally made at Bywong Nursery by Peter Ollerenshaw.
4. Turn right towards the Rock Garden, past the Wollemi Pines. Go up the steps to your left to notice on the left-hand side Grevillea lanigera [Section 15c] with grey-green foliage and pink and cream flowers on a low bush. This grevillea is very long-flowering and useful in the garden. It is commonly known as Woolly Grevillea, and is endemic to Victoria and New South Wales.
5. Banksia integrifolia subsp. integrifolia [Section 15c], also on your left, is a vigorous groundcover with dark green leaves that have attractive silver backs. There are both mature and developing upright yellow-green cones on this versatile and hardy plant, which is native to coastal eastern Australia.
6. Grevillea manglesii subsp. ornithopoda [Section 15d], or Birdsfoot Grevillea, on your right, is a large open bush with divided foliage and white pincushion flower heads all along the stems. It is native to Western Australia.
7. Acacia pterocaulon [Section 15e] on the right in a pot, just coming into flower, is a much-branched, intricate shrub with very large golden ball flowers and flattened foliage. It is a Western Australian genus.
8. Androcalva luteiflora [Section 15f], on your right is a rounded bush with small round foliage and yellow cup flowers with red centres. It grows naturally in Western Australia.
9. Grevillea ‘Little Jessie’ [Section 15g], up to your right, is a hybrid between Grevillea asparagoides and G.calliantha. It is named after the daughter of the originator, Stephen Smart. It is a large open bush with grey-green needle foliage and cream/pink flowers with long red styles.
10. Grevillea iaspicula [Section 15h] on your left, also known as the Wee Jasper Grevillea, is an endangered shrub that is endemic to southern New South Wales. It is a medium‑sized bush with dense mid-green foliage and pink and cream flowers.
11. Commersonia magniflora [Section 15g], high on your right, grows in central and western Australia. It is a small sparse bush with oblong grey-green foliage and pink flowers that open from a boxy fused bud.
12. Acacia alata var. platyptera [Section 15f] on your right has bipinnate flattened phyllodes and very large golden ball flowers. It is native to Western Australia.
13. Cross the plank bridge and turn right down the hill to see Hakea obtusa [Section 15p] on your left, a small tree with leathery foliage and dark pink powderpuff flowers along the stems.
14. Go to the bottom of the steps near the waterfall and then turn left up the other set of steps to see Alyogyne huegelii ‘West Coast Gem’ [Section 15r], on your right with clear purple ‘hibiscus’ flowers. The bush is medium-sized with coarse divided foliage.
15. Further up on your left is Hakea corymbosa [Section 15p], or Cauliflower Hakea, a small tree with incredibly prickly foliage and greenish cream flowers in bunches.

Rosalind Walcott