The Banksia

The banksia is a native flower of Australia and is quite common in most areas. It is a popular garden plant for those folk who enjoy growing and promoting native gardens.
There are about 71 species of banksia's.

Some have been featured in Australian children's books as "the banksia man" character.

This plant is flowering at the Port of Brisbane Visitors Centre.

Kangaroo Paw

The Kangaroo Paw plant is native to Western Australia, but nowdays the plant is available and flourishes well in other parts of Australia. It is seen very much in dry gardens - gardens that don't need a lot of water.

This plant is flourishing near the Port of Brisbane Visitors Centre.

Japanese Gardens

At the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens is a wonderful Japanese Garden. It is not permitted to take photos inside the gardens, however, this photo was taken outside the entrance of the gardens.

It is mid winter and with the drought many of the plants are looking stressed. Azalias are in bloom throughout the garden and they certainly create a wonderful picture.

Bonsai Camelia

This is an exquisite bloom of Camelia in the Bonsai section of the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens in Brisbane Queensland. The display here is awesome with some extra ordinary exhibits of Bonsai, some dating back to 1941.

Camelia, weeping fig, azalea, are some of the plants featured in this section of the garden.

Bonsai at Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens

There is an amazing collection of Bonsai in the Botanical Gardens - I'll add some of the photos over the next few days.



Some of them were in flower - just like this azalea. Wonderful exhibits and some date back to 1941.

Bamboo

Not exactly blooms - but quite spectacular in a garden are some of these interesting bamboo plants. Once upon a time most of the bamboos would take over the garden, but these days there are some more varieties that are clumping and do not get out of control.

A bucket of gerberas

These are just picked gerberas. We pick them - pluck them really as no cutting implement is used to pick them. We do then cut about 1/2 an inch from the bottom of each stem, and put them in buckets of fresh water. They are carried into the work room and then each flower is checked, and placed in a plastic "cup", then we make up "bunches" of five flowers of the same colour, place two rubber bands on the stems to hold them firmly, and put in a bucket with special product to preserve the flowers. When counted they are placed in the cold room, ready for delivery to the florists on delivery day.