Exotic spring cool climate flower heaven
Thursday 3rd September 2026
A little further on I come across a gorgeous Camellia and pale pink with flowers bigger than saucers
And some white spring star flowers. I have these in my garden in mauve and purple but I've never seen white before
It's very windy overnight and my curiosity about one of the outdoor chairs on my balcony that moved everyday was solved as a gust of wind took it racing across the veranda and down the steps.
I head off via Bell's Line of Road and it's a very scenic drive but a little bit stressful with so much traffic, especially traffic that doesn't seem to want to adhere to the speed limit and there's plenty of speed limits with lots of road work speed limits added, even though there's little evidence of the actual roadworks.
I think it's probably busier than normal because the Mount Victoria Pass is closed.
It took me almost an hour to reach the Botanical gardens at Mount Tomah and the lady in the visitor centre tells me there's lots and lots in flower and recommends the daffodil lawn as a first stop and it's lovely.
The sign indicates there's 65 cultivars. I think I have definite daffodil envy.
Wordsworth penned "a host of golden daffodils" that certainly applies here.
And there are blue belts amongst them too, which is lovely.
I head towards a particularly glorious rhododendron and I'm diverted by a tree with interesting flowers and the label says it is a fried egg plant
The rhododendron I have in my sights is a really deep red and it is glorious. I am reminded of what I was told about red rhododendron in Bhutan: ahe petals represent the menstrual blood of dakinis (Buddhist fairies)
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I pass some camellias and pause to admire. I love how some have multicoloured flowers on the one plant, I'm looking at one that's primarily white but some blooms have a spot of pink and there's one that's a deep pink, almost red and it's all on the same plant. I do have plants at home that have varied colour like this.
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I am attracted by a bush with no leaves but flowers I have never seen before and the sign informs me. It's Edgeworthia chrysantha ' Red dragon'. It is presumably named for scientist Edgeworth David who, amongst his other achiements, made a geological investigative expedition to Funafuti in Tuavulu. He was accompanied by his wife Margaret who subsequently wrote Three Months on a Coral Island: An Unscientic Account of a Scientific Expedition and I have seen and handled a first edition copy of that publication and rather covet one!
Up above, there are some magnificent rhododendron trees with scarlet blooms.
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I'd hate to estimate how tall it is.
I pause to look at a really weird gymnosperm, it's a mountain araucaria from New Caledonia.
I stopped to admire some proteas which really are lovely. The big ones are so tactile.
And then a white waratah catches my eye, although not yet fully open
I wander on and find myself in the official Camellia Garden which has squillions of varieties. Many of them relatively new plantings, but I spot a Waratah Camellia which is rather amazing.
There are lots of dwarf rhododendron. If they were not labelled I would have identified them as azaleas. duhhh! Azaleas are rhododendron!
Further on i come across a magnificent pink rhododendron with quite large flowers
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And then there's another lovely yellow rhododendron, quite small yellow flowers
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And a glorious pink Azalea
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And of course there's more daffodils scattered all throughout the garden
And this next one is labelled sunlight sensation
And a delightful vireya rhododendron
And before I leave a white king protea which is just divine
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