Friday Fertilizer

G'Day,
Here is my entry this week for the Friday Fertilizer prompt.
On remembrance day I took my sister and Mum to show off one of my favorite places in Canberra. The National Botanical Gardens. I go there every few months to see what is happening and in what is in flower and I am never disappointed.
The gardens are quite new as far as gardens go but they have made a wonderful job of developing them for such a short time. They are set out in areas representing different botanical regions of Australia and all of the plants there are native to Australia.
I might not get all the plant names right but will list them as I know them. There are many species belonging to each genus that are similar except for differences of colour or region they come from.
The first picture above is one of the callistemons, or bottle brushes.

This to my mind, is one of the most spectacular plants there ever were. I love this. It is a Gymea Lily or properly known as Doryanthes Excelsior. It looks like something that would have been around in the age of the dinosaurs. It is huge but is very specialized in the area it grows. Namely along the eastern coast of N.S.W. and in a few small areas north into southern Queensland.
This is a close up of the Gymea lily flower head. I was lucky to be able to get this pic by climbing up on some rocks for a close up. It is about the size of 2 basketballs. Years ago I used to know this plant as black fellas spears but of course now that is very politically incorrect. Lots of these plants can be found, in their natural habitat, through the Royal National Park just south of Sydney.
The plant in the picture above is a Kangaroo paw. Now they are bred in different colors and with a fungus resistant rootstock for the home garden and have become a popular garden plant. Years ago they were not easy to grow in the eastern states and there were many disappointments, but now they are better. They are a western Australian native and floral emblem.

This is one of the Waratah family. Telopea, but not the famous one from around Sydney. I think this is the Dorrigo plateau version.
Close up of flower from above shrub.Waratah.
The tiny white flower above is (I think) one of the tea tree family. I don't know its proper name but it is in full flower at the moment.
Large everlasting daisy. Don't know its proper name but I know it as that. Might be called sunray.
Tiny delicate rock orchid.
Another of the many types of everlasting daisy. So called because the petals are dry and papery and if you dry out the flowers they last for ages, years even.
The picture above is of my elder sister Ellen. She is walking through a gully that is representative of the rain forests in the Macpherson Ranges area of southern Queensland. Magic eh. Amazing that the botanists who built the gardens in Canberra, where we have cold frosty winters and dry hot summers, have managed to create this giant, green, damp, semi tropical garden here. Who would guess from this picture that you were in Canberra Australia's capital city.
Twas funny, Ellen's sandals broke a short time into our walk and as my feet are tougher than hers, I gave her my shoes to wear and I wandered about with no shoes. Must have looked good. It was a bit hot on the feet too. But better than missing out.
Pink everlastings. Again I do not know their proper name. I tried to grow these a couple of times, unsuccessfully. They are so pretty.
One of the many grevilleas.
Yellow thingy? Flower heads 5 or 6 cm across.
I think this is a Geralton wax plant but they are normally pink to white so..? Another of the western Australian natives.
Tea Tree.
Native hibiscus, I think....... maybe. See the tiny beetle. Please correct me if you know better.

A potted display just outside the office and shop at the gardens. If you enlarge this, that big fluffy flower at the back is called a nulla nulla. The front one with the purple/pink tips is very similar but I don't know what it is. Pretty huh. Hope you like my selection from the gardens best in flower at the moment.
I am still having computer troubles. The phone line keeps dropping out and I keep loosing the connection, so in my frustration I have not been visiting other people via my blog lately. Please forgive me. I have not forgotten my blog mates, just finding it difficult at the moment to follow up on puter stuff. Please don't go away and desert me. Since moving house we have had a lot of trouble with this and when the contract with our current Internet provider expires in a few weeks we will be changing it over to a more reliable company. Welllll....hopefully more reliable.
When things hopefully improve I will get back to reading and commenting again.
Love Linda.