Australian Native Plants at the ANBG Canberra

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

Some months ago I promised I would start a topic on some of the wonderful Australian native plants that are growing at the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) here in Canberra.  While I was working there from April to June I had a lot of opportunity to photograph some of the many joys I got to see every day, and I want to share them with you.  Somewhat tardily, I am starting this topic.  I have LOTS of photos that I have taken and I am trying to work out how to handle posting pictures here.  Before I start posting I would like to ask a couple of questions as to what people would like to see in my pictures..... 

Do people want full shots of the plants as well as shots of the flowers themselves (where possible I tried to take both, as I figured there would be those who would ask what a particular plant looked like)? 
Do people want me to organise this around families, or just work through different times of year as things flower so that people can see the progression?
Is there any particular family that anyone is interested in? (I can try to track down and take photos specially for this person if so)

I haven't taken any photos in the last couple of months since I ceased employment there, but I will be commencing there again in a couple of weeks time, so I will be then able to start the progression of flowers throughout spring, summer and autumn.  I'm going to try to put up a selection of pictures from my previous 3 months of work, but will probably start to concentrate on stuff currently in flower once I am back working there again, as I would imagine I am going to have enough trouble sorting and preparing photos to post here then, without still trying to work through the backlog. 

So, any input from anyone as to preferences?  The technical details for the ANBG are that it is approximately 90 hectares in size, with only around 40 of that actually developed (the rest is native bush).  It is devoted to Australian native plants from all over the country, organised into different families or places of origin in different sections (for example there is an Acacia section, Tasmanian Section, Rainforest Gully, etc).  Their website is .... http://www.anbg.gov.au/ if you want to look at the information there as well.

Once I work out what people want I will start uploading some of the pictures I took from April to June.   

Moderators.... I assume I have posted this in the right section?  If not, please let me know and move it to wherever it is best.  Once I have caught up it could easily fit into "flowering now", but I thought as the initial photos are a few months old it might be better to start it here.

[ranunculus]

Simple answers Paul,
1)  Yes please
2)  Just let them flow ... please
3)  Anything and everything would be fine ... please.

Many of us will never get to Canberra, the ANBG or Australia in general, so every image will be a revelation.  Many thanks for thinking about us.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I second Cliff on this one Paul !
Just fire away and blow us all over ... 
Thanks in advance !

[Paddy Tobin]

Paul,

Photographs of plants are always welcome, I think.
Looking forward to your report.

By the way, I saw an extraordinary display of the most brilliant red flowers on a Eucalyptus at the Malahide Gardens in Dublin recently. As it would be tender here it was growing in a glasshouse.


Paddy

[Magnar]

I'm looking forward to seeing  your pics 

[David Nicholson]

Plants as well as flowers would be best I think Paul-gives us a better impression. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[Lesley Cox]

Just go for it Paul.

[Paul T]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.  Just wanted to get a feel for whether there were any major preferences or not.  I shall just run through things as I process them..... I'm going to work through from when I started at the ANBG in the first week of May 2008, through until I finished up at the end of June.  It is now confirmed that I will start there again on the 1st of September, through until the end of June 2009, so if you are liking the pics I'm posting you should have plenty to enjoy! 

Now, please forgive some of the pictures as my camera doesn't always produce wonderful shots of the whole plants.... it works much better on the smaller shots, which was why I bought it in the first place anyway.  It gives you the idea of what the plant looks like though, and that is the important thing.  Other than working through in a very approximate time sequence of when I took them (i.e week to week, not particular times within a given day) there is no particular order to the photos.  If there are photos that you would like closer shots of, just ask as I may have them, or can create a more closeup shot through editing the much larger original files.  The worst I can say is that I can't manage to do it... the best is that I might be able to do exactly as you ask. 

So..... to the very first shot I'll post here.... not exactly a wonderful picture, as it was taken around 7am one morning in early way as I was walking up to the depot at work.  This is the scene that greets me as I walk along the road...



Cool eh?    I can think of MUCH worse things to greet you.  Sometimes later in the day as I walk through on my way down to the Tasmanian Section that I was responsible for, the misters are on, and if the wind is right they waft gently across the road....



The first shot that greets me in the morning is standing on the right hand side of the road in this picture, looking up to the right.  I actually come into work from the carpark that is off in the distance through the fog in the picture, then continue to walk up the road directly behind me when I was taking the fog picture.

As I continue up to walk up toward the depot, the edge of the road has all sorts of rainforest type plantings, as it is the boarder of the Victorian Rainforest section in that area.  Here's a picture of some of those plantings along the road....



That's just a little insight into my views as I arrive at work each morning (or later in the day as I am using the same road). 

While I'm doing the "scenic shots", I've attached a pic of one of the views from the bottom of the Tasmanian Rainforest Gully (which is predominantly Dicksonia Antarctica) and a view of the waterfall below the "Rockery" area, which I'll get to sometime later in more detail.

More pics coming along shortly.

[Paul T]

Here's some pics of a few of the ANBG Banksias.  I recall that I posted a pic of a Banksia elsewhere on the forums and it surprised some people.  The ANBG has a lot of different species and varieties of the genus, and I could take up a few pages posting pics of them I would imagine.  I'll post a few here that were in flower at the beginning of May, just to show a couple of different types and shapes.

The Banksia ericifolia x B. spinulosa (Family Proteaceae) was about 2.5m in height, and about 3 metres wide.  The plant is quite imposing, with LOTS of flowers.  Banksia flowers are rich in nectar so the birds just love them.  Each inflorescence (for those who aren't familiar with this word, it is the "flower head") would be about 9 to 10 inches in length, composed of hundreds of individual flowers.  This particular plant and it's neighbours were "owned" by a bunch of Red Wattle Birds which chased off any competitors (which included Little Wattle Bird, Eastern Spinebills and New Holland Honeyeaters amongst others) which came anywhere near the plants.  They then spent the day just doing the rounds of flowers, eating their fill and wasting energy chasing everything else away that might try to steal any of their food.

The Banksia integrifolia ssp integrifolia is on the steps leading up to the Rockery area, just to the right of the picture I took of the waterfall, above.  The plant is about 4 metres wide, by about 1.2m in height.  Each inflorescence is about 7 or 8 inches high.  The silvery leaves really set off the flowers, and it is a good hiding place for birds as it is quite dense.

Banksia marginata 'Cape Patterson Dwarf' is smaller again, with this plant being only 1.5m at it's widest, and maybe 2 feet in height.  The inflorescence in the picture is about 5 inches long.

These are just 3 examples of Banksia that were in flower at the time, and are by no means the extremes of sizes of either flowers or plants.

[Paul T]

There are a miriad of Grevillea (Family Proteaceae) out at any time, far too many to photograph and post them all.  They're also a favourite of birds, as they're rich in nectar.  I'll post bits and pieces from time to time as I photograph them, and I will also repeat them at times, just to show how long flowering they are.  For the moment here are a few that were in flower at the beginning of May....

The Grevillea dielsiana I didn't photograph as a full plant.  Each flowerhead was about 4 inches long, on a rather spidery plant about 1.2m tall.  It didn't come out well in a picture, as there really isn't much to it, but the flowers were spectacular, even though comparatively small.

Grevillea humifusa is perhaps the smallest groundcover Grevillea that I have seen.  The whole plant was about 3 feet wide, and only 6 inches tall.  The flowerheads were about 2 inches long, but the plant was very noticeable as you walked past.  VERY nice!!

And lastly for tonight, there's Grevillea sericea which is fairly small, but I don't think that it is a fully mature plant as yet.  The plant in the picture was about 3 feet tall, and the flowerhead was about 2 inches wide.  Very delicately coloured, up close it was really beautiful.

[Paddy Tobin]

Paul,

Delighted you have started to post your photographs. For us in the northern hemisphere this will be a special treat, seeing plants we are not normally able to grow or see.

Looking forward to many photographs.

Paddy

[Paul T]

Thanks Paddy.  Glad you liked them. 

That's it for now, as getting late.  I hope that the "narrative" I am using is OK?  Not quite sure how to describe everything, but hopefully it reads OK?  If I can improve anything, please let me know.

[Paddy Tobin]

Paul,

Don't  know what you were worried about. You have posted a lovely selection of photographs in a variety of styles, overall views, individual plants and close -ups of some very interesting ones.

I must say, my first impression is that the whole setting and the cultivation and care of the plants is of the highest standard. The plants are obvously doing very well and all look so very healthy.

Dicksonia antarctica hs become a very popular plant here. Not many years ago, it was one to be well wraped for the winter but now it is often left to its own devices and comes through our winters with no damage. Here at home, Mary would love to put in a few but I disagree as I don't think they would suit our garden - which reminds me of hearing a local nurseryman replying to a person who asked for a very unusual and hard-to-find plant, one of those rare and unusual one. The answer he gave the customer was, 'I don't think your garden is ready for this plant yet.' OUCH !

Looking forward to further postings.

Paddy

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Promising start Paul - I bet you will open up a new world to a lot of us !

May I add that your "entrance" looks quite a lot more pleasant than the concrete parking lot I have to cross walking to my office...  

Look forward to (lots) more !  

[Brian Ellis]

Wow Paul  I can see we are in for some real treats, as someone who will never get to the Southern Hemisphere - unless they reinstall banana boats - I am really enjoying the start of what looks to be a fascinating thread.
Cheers