After the March rain, April is brimming with flowers, fruits and foliage. This month we explore not only striking flowers but colourful and intriguing fruit in lush and shady parts of our garden.

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April

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WOOLLOOMOOLOOGATE

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Rathborne Lodge Foundation & Friends

Lion Gate Lodge

State Libraryof NSW

ParliamentHouse

SydneyHospital

The Mint

Hyde ParkBarracks

Land & PropertyInformation

St Mary’s Cathedral

Plant Sales

Fleet Steps

TheCalyx

Mrs Macquarie’sChair

Café

Sydney Fernery

D O M A I N

OFFICE RECEPTION

Art Galleryof NSW

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

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Wheelchair accessible

Entrance gates

Toilets

Café / Kiosk

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Palm Grove Centre

Railway station

Bus stop

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Parking station

Information booth

Limited public access

Palm Grove CentreBotanic Gardens Restaurant and Café Garden ShopVisitor InformationToiletsMeet here for guided walks

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Guided ToursBehind the Scenes Sensory Tour Tuesday and Friday 11 am – 12.30 pm

Aboriginal Heritage Tour Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10 am – 11.30 am

Sculpture Walks for Garden Art Month Saturday 13th and 27th April 11 am - 12:30 pm

Free guided walks Daily 10.30 am – 12 pm and 1 pm – 2 pm

All tours depart from the Garden Shop

Zingiber spectabile Beehive Ginger

Camellias make a wonderful display as the weather cools in autumn and winter. The perfection of each flower is only surpassed by the variety presented here in our Camellia beds. Camellia sasanqua cultivars are the first to flower each year and are well suited to home gardens due to their profusive flowering and relative pest and disease resistance. Learn more about our collection by visiting https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/visit/things-to-see-do/unmissable-gardens/the-camellia-collection.

Meander along the maze of paths in our Palm Grove and discover there is more to palms than tall trunks and fan or feathery foliage. They display a great diversity of flower and fruit, jutting out from the trunk or foliage. Amongst the more than 300 species in this palm collection, look out for the bright orange fruit of Phoenix loureiroi, funky woolly tentacles of Burretiokentia hapala and shiny drupes of the shade loving Chamaedorea species (pictured).

Recent plantings along the edge of our Australian Rainforest Garden feature plants that naturally grow on sunny rainforest margins especially near creeks, rivers or clearings. Native hibiscus, such as Hibiscus macilwraithensis, and native lasiandra Melastoma are flowering alongside Golden Penda - Xanthostemon chrysantha. These golden flowers get their fluffy appearance from their prominent stamens, a characteristic of the gum tree family (Myrtaceae) to which they belong.

7. Australian rainforest figs

Native to eastern South America from Argentina to Peru this tree grows in spurts – usually when water is abundant. Reaching heights more than 20 m you must stand back to admire the unusual flowers which when pollinated produce a woody capsule full of seeds with fine hairs attached (floss). This seed floss is harvested in their native environment to be used as a stuffing material in cushions and mattresses. The Silk Floss Tree belongs to the hibiscus family, Malvaceae, see them planted together in our Tropical Garden.

Look out for the fig tree producing a banana! It is Ficus pleurocarpa, the Banana Fig, from North East Queensland with large orange figs shaped like a banana. Nearby look behind the leaves of Ficus congesta to find curious globose fruits borne on leafless branches. Along the internal woodchip path, the Atherton fig, Ficus leptoclada has figs projecting directly out of its trunk. These figs form part of the Cassowary bird’s diet. Inside our rainforest you will find our topiary Cassowaries hiding.

There are up to 61 named species of Nymphaea (and many cultivars) growing in a range of environments from free standing bowls and ponds to large earth lakes, rivers and lagoons. Certain sized plants require certain depths of water but all require plenty of sun, food and still water in which to thrive. Some of our tropical day flowering cultivars can be found in our water tanks with such wonderful names as Nymphaea 'Ambrosia' and N. 'Camembert'.

Look closely amongst the lush green foliage of our ancient ferns and you may be surprised to find flowers and colourful foliage. Begonia species grab your attention not only for the flowers (some as tiny as a ladybeetle) but also their flamboyant foliage. Seek out the shade loving Begonia exotica from New Guinea, B. listada (pictured) from Brazil or the cultivar B. pustulata ’Silver Jewels’ and admire the diversity of their leaf patterns. Look out also for the brightly coloured flowers of the pendulous Lipstick plant, Aeschynanthus parasiticus.

1. Autumn flowering Camellias Camellia sasanqua

4. Fruits in the Palm Grove Chamaedorea species

6. Australian Rainforest Flowers Xanthonstemon species

5. Silk Floss tree Ceiba speciosa

3. Water Lilies Nymphaea species and cultivars

2. Foliage and Flowers in the Fernery Begonia species

They may look like the palms that surround them but our Pineapple Zamias are cycads, ancient non-flowering plants. They don't have flowers but male and female cones on separate plnts. A magnificent female plant is producing cones now but beware, the bright red seeds are poisonous.

Lepidozamia peroffskyana Pineapple Zamia

PLANT OF THE MONTH