On a sunny winter's day, the Australian National Botanic Gardens is animated by the birds and bees. At Pollen cafe zucchini fritters, good coffee and warmed lemon rosemary cake were accompanied by the visit of a wattle bird and a curious magpie. Near a group of mothers and children was a bird- and bee-attracting Corymbia "Dwarf Orange" which visitor services ranger Ben Harvey said was flowering now due to the milder, wetter winter.
The Banksia Garden, filled with about 100 taxa, is a lesson in design with raised beds and limestone pebbles for good drainage, well-spaced plants, a dry river bed and corten steel cut-out screens. A handsome young banksia overhanging a wall was identified by Ben as a grafted Banksia hookeriana, "a nice specimen".
