As I was in the city yesterday, I thought I’d take a walk through Sydney’s lovely botanic gardens. It was a hot day with plenty of sunshine, although it was really humid! I came across some plants that I have not seen before, which is always a bonus.

First up is this shrub to small tree with these great and rather unique flowers. It is Hibiscus schizopetalus, also known as spider hibiscus. I just think that it is such a pretty flower and colour. This native of Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique in Africa is a new plant for me, which is a nice thing to have.

These coneflowers are also pretty and were covered in bees. They were loving the flowers!

Below is another tree in a genus that is a favourite of mine. It’s Brachychiton acerifolius, or Queensland bottle tree in English, due to the shape of its trunk. It is another quirky Australian native tree that reminds me why I love the natural world of this country.

Next we have Caliandra haematocephala, or red powder puff because of the flowers. This is apparently a native of Bolivia and I like it!

This next plant is another that I haven’t seen before. I took note of this because of the flower, which black and vaguely looks like a bat, giving the plants its common name of bat flower. The binomial name is Tacca chantrieri. Although there are many flowers that I came across on my trip around the botanic gardens, this is the flower of the day as it is so unusual and interesting.

As always, I had to walk past my second favourite fig tree in the gardens. I love this fig tree as it has been allowed to grow as it should naturally-something all trees should be allowed to do. I love the buttress roots and the roots that have grown down from the branches. I just want to give it a hug every time I see it!

These last few pictures are of canna lillies just on the inside of the perimeter fence of the botanical gardens. The colours of the flowers and leaves are what make them interesting and a nice welcome into the garden.

All photos are my own.