Tropical Totem Gallery

I'll never tire of the bush. (I hope you won't either) In my video taken this morning, there's glimpses of three of our little birds that I've labelled for you on the video. You'll also get a look at a few of the wildflowers that bloom this time of the year. This Red Gum seemed to come alight. A mini delight almost hidden near the ground The old and the new Sorry to wake you old man. (A Banksia Cone) Red Gums and Grass Trees Bell Heath  Bell Heath  Ham and Eggs Banksia

Wet Gum trees show off purple, pink, red and burgundy limbs.You can hear a leaf drop in Garigal National Park this afternoon. It's quiet. It's damp and it's still. Not much wildlife to be heard, just a cricket here and there and an occasional froglet chirping and then stopping, as I approach along the track. The sun glints and polishes up the wet leaves. It has showered just recently. A bird lands in a tree nearby, shaking water droplets noisily on to the leaves below. Now it's raining again. Better head back.

Garigal National Park is a favourite haunt of mine, being so close to my home. I can be out of site of homes within 15 minutes. Popular with bushwalkers, Garigal has an extensive trail system, and it is serves aas a refuge for a great number of animals, some of them threatened. It also has a wide variety of vegetation. I have included below, a series of photographs of which I'm quite proud. All theses photos were taken this last Summer along the Cascades track, where you'll see Red Bloodwoods, Scribbly Gums, and Sydney Red Gums. Towards the creek at the bottom of the valley,  are Lyrebirds, Gerygone's, Whistlers and Wrens. Large trees give way to various species of Banksia and Wattle. Boronia and Mountain Devils are scattered amongst the undergrowth. This video is a short 30 sec visit through it's natural habitat. The animal shown is an artists representation. An artists impression of The Southern Brown Bandicoot on the Garigal Cascades track Banksia Banksia Serrata Ba

Further to my article on Australian Grevilleas, today I have included a link to Propagation of Grevilleas  from Gardening Australia. Also, from Wikipedia... Many species of grevilleas are popular  garden plants , especially in Australia but also in other temperate and subtropical climates. Many grevilleas have a propensity to interbreed freely, and extensive hybridisation and selection of horticulturally desirable attributes has led to the commercial release of many named  Grevillea cultivars . Among the best known are  Grevillea  'Robyn Gordon' , a small shrub up to 1.5 m (5 ft) high and wide which can flower 12 months of the year in subtropical climates. The cultivar 'Canberra Gem' has gained the  Royal Horticultural Society 's  Award of Garden Merit . [3] They can be grown from soft tip  cuttings  from December-March (in the Southern Hemisphere) or  seed . Many harder-to-grow species can be grafted onto hardy rootstock such as  Grevillea robusta . From Wikipedia,

We made a short (1.5 hrs) drive South of Sydney to Bulli to visit the Grevillea Park, the home of this distinctive range species of Australian flora called "Grevillea." The park is open to the public several times during the year, allowing the general public to see and appreciate native plants and hopefully be encouraged to further their knowledge of this particularly beautiful species. During the mid 1980's, the need for a permanent home for these wild sourced plants became necessary. The Grevillea Study Group of the Society for Growing Australian Plants had grown these wild plants under nursery conditions at Bulli up to that time, and it was soon realised that a large park would be needed for the collection. With the support of the Sydney and Canberra Botanic Gardens, the park opened in September 1993.