Australian Native Plants at the ANBG Canberra

[Paul T]

And lastly for this topic tonight..... a couple more colour forms of the 'Sturt's Desert Pea' (Swainsonia formosa)


A white form.


A lovely red and white bicolor which is both strange and beautiful at the same time.

That's all for tonight.  Hopefully tomorrow I can load some more pics for the Southern Hemisphere topic, and maybe get some more pics up here from the last couple of days photos at the ANBG.

Enjoy. 

[Maggi Young]

Thanks, Paul, more lovely plants and info there!


And remember, Folks, click the pic to enlarge the photo.....

[ranunculus]

Wonderful images Paul ... keep them coming please ...

[Brian Ellis]

More treats Paul, that Olearia ramulosa sens lat seems to grow to an ideal height, so many of them get so rangy here that they look a mess, and despite cutting back hard I don't seem to get any growth from lower down so end up chucking them out and starting again from cuttings

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Paul,
great pics.
I'd not seen Jacksonia scoparia before; do you have any details on where it's from? How tall it eventually gets?
cheers
fermi

[Lvandelft]

Beautiful again Paul!
I love this Actinotis helanthi, such white flowers on the grey leaves..! Super pictures.

[Paul T]

Luit,

And they are so lovely and furry, a bit like felt.  Gotta love em!! 

Fermi,

By the books Jacksonia scoparia grows to about 4.5m, although the species is quite variable.  I had another look at those at the ANBG and they're probably 3.5m or so, but the largest may be a bit bigger than that.  They grow on "low-nutrient gravelly soils associated with shales or clay, on hillsides and ridges, north from the Bega district" through to Queensland.

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

Here are some plants that were flowering in mid to late November (and in many cases they're still in flower now)....


The ANBG has put on a display this year of annual native plants, to show that mass displays of colour can be achieved by our own plants, not having to use exotics.  Here's a pic of a small amount of the main display area.  The predominant flowers in this part of the display are Brachyscombe.




This climber is Billardiera viridifolia.  Fairly non-descript when not in flower, it is striking when out.  Each flower is about 3cm long, but there are lots of them.  The plant in the pic is about 2.4m tall, climbing up and draping out of a small eucalypt.


A relative, this time a small shrub, Billardiera cymosa has flowers that range from pale blue to white during their life, each about 1cm wide.


A Bulbine species, a small perennial plant with fleshy leaves that look a bit onion-like.  Flowers for a very long period, seeding freely and becoming a benevolent weed in places in the gardens.




Dampiera sylvestris is a stoloniferous "ground cover" (tends to loosely wander about a bit, rather than crowding anything out) to about 40cm tall.  Glorious blue flowers for many months of the year.  The pics don't do it justice.


Scaevola albida


Scaevola albida var albida


Leptospermum spectabile has flowers about 3.5cm wide.  Very, very noticeable when in flower as it is extremely striking.

More pics shortly......

[Paul T]

And now for a couple of Darwinia.  These are small shrubs, and the pictures of the overall plant really weren't clear enough to post here.  Both are about a metre tall and quite open.  The flowers though are beautiful, particularly in closeup...




Darwinia masonii




Darwinia oxylepis




I think that this is Eremaea beaufortioides var beaufortioides, although I could not find a name on this particular plant.  It appears to be the same as one of that name in another part of the ANBG.  The orange is extremely pure, and I imagine that a thriving plant of this in full flower would be a real show-stopper.  The plant in the picture is about 1.2m tall and a bit under 2m wide.  The flower head is around 2.5cm wide.




Goodenia macmillanii unlike those of the genus usually seen is pink rather than yellow.  The flowers are around 4cm wide, and it is a sprawling groundcover type of plant.




This is Grevillea nudiflora.  It produces a carpet of leaves, which I would imagine could almost be a lawn substitute in the right conditions as they are only about 10cm long and the plant does stay quite flat, perhaps to around 20cm high.  The flowers appear to be produced on naked stems, hence the name I assume, or at least they are on this plant.  Each flower is about 2.5cm long and as you can see in the picture (these buds are only just opening) they are slightly hirsute and extremely cute.    If anyone is interested I can send them a larger pic which better shows the detail in the flower.  I've tried to stick to pictures which fit onto smaller screens, so I've lost a bit of the detail but I think the flower still shows up pretty well?

[Paul T]

Isopogon 'Little Drumstick is a small shrub to about 75cm by maybe a metre wide.




This mound is Marianthus paralius.  Very glossy green leaves make a nice display by themselves, but the bright tubular flowers are great when viewed up close.


Melaleuca 'Little Beauty' is a mound to about 50cm tall, by 75cm wide.  The flowers are very intricate, and when in full bloom the bush is shaded pink.




Melaleuca pentagona is a bigger brother of the last one, growing to about 5 foot tall (well the plants I found anyway), with little balls of pink flowers all over them.


Prostanthera porcata I think was only a young plant, so I have not included a pic of the whole bush.  The flowers are much more tubular than most of the Prostanthera I have seen before, almost reminiscent of some of the species Penstemon from overseas.


Pultenaea ferruginea which has the purest yellow pea flowers.  Beautiful!!

[Paul T]

Ozothamnus argophyllus is one of the larger of the genus I have come across.  This plant is around 2.5m tall with good sized flowerheads.




Ozothamnus purpurascens is only to about 30cm or so tall, or the plants I have found are anyway.  Beautifully pure white flowers are rather liked by the insects, as you can see from the picture. 




Persoonia chamaepitys is one of the creeping geebungs, it being a groundcover.  Since taking these pictures I have found a better specimen and will post a pic of it sometime if anyone is interested.  The plant grows to maybe 10cm tall and when in full flower is a blaze of colour.  There is also at least a yellow form.

That is it for tonight.  That brings me up to the pictures I had taken by the 27th of November, and I have plenty more I have taken since then.  So much in flower right now.

Enjoy.

[Brian Ellis]

one of the creeping geebungs

Sounds like a disease of some sort Paul, but I'd welcome it any time, likewise many of the others.

[Maggi Young]

If anyone is interested I can send them a larger pic which better shows the detail in the flower.  I've tried to stick to pictures which fit onto smaller screens, so I've lost a bit of the detail but I think the flower still shows up pretty well?
 

Paul, that is a kind offer for anyone wantingto really examine the plnants in close up detail, thank you.

 I would just remind folks that you can "click on the pic" to bring up a larger version on your screen... and most will find this a good size to see super detail.

As an aside, Paul, you will see I have been editing your posts to make a space between your attachments... this makes each pic more clear, I think!
 
Thanks indeed for introducing so many of us to plants we really know nothing about.... I'm learning so much from your posts,  I am just delighted!!

[Michael]

  Australian plants are superb! I wanna go there, i wanna go there!!!!!

[mark smyth]

I used to grow the desert pea - as stunning in real life as Paul's photo - but I've never seen the white one