Christmas Gardens in Australia

When Air Canada reintroduced direct flights to Sydney in December, we made a spur-of-the moment decision to visit our daughter and grandson whom we had not seen for two years. There were a lot of restrictions and tests we had to comply with, but it was worth it. An unexpected bonus was missing the deluge of snow that fell on Vancouver just after we left.

Neighbours sent us photos.

Meanwhile we were enjoying warmth and sunshine in Sydney at our daughter's house, almost hidden behind the lush summer growth.

The pink flowers belong to a eucalyptus, Corymbia 'Summer Beauty', that was visited every morning by rainbow lorikeets feasting on its abundant nectar and waking us much too early with their squawking.

Our daughter's garden is a combination of native plants and sub-tropical ones, which make it a pleasant retreat in which to spend our Covid-restricted visit. The rules here in Australia limited our movement much more than those in Canada.

The Trachycarpus palm leaves were worth a closer look.

As well as enjoying the serenity of her garden, we could walk a block away to Rookwood, not only the largest cemetery in the southern hemisphere with over 1 million graves, but also one of the oldest http://rookwoodnecropolistrust.com.au/history/ . We particularly enjoyed wandering in the oldest sections among the Victorian-era gravestones.

Among the graves were many magnificent specimens of trees, both native and from surrounding regions. The tall, narrow ones in the photos above are Araucaria columnaris, a relative of the Monkey Puzzle. I read that they typically lean 8º north in the southern hemisphere and the same degree south in the northern hemisphere, but these seemed to lean in various directions.

Another Araucaria (and my favourite) was also planted in considerable numbers.

This is Araucaria bidwillii, the Bunya-Bunya. Of all the trees in the cemetery, these are the most imposing and I took far too many photos of them.

It is a dangerous tree to walk under from December to March, when the cones are ripe and ready to fall. Each one is about twice the size of a pineapple and can weigh up to 10 Kg.

Rookwood is also home to many other Australian native plants, like this Honey Myrtle (Melaleuca thymifolia) 

and Purple Hyacinth Orchid (Dipodium atropurpureum)

The orchid is endemic to New South Wales and common in the wild, but has resisted attempts to cultivate it, due to its relationship with a mycorrhizal fungus in its natural habitat.

Perhaps the rarest species in the grounds is the endangered Downy Wattle (Acacia pubescens) that has been gradually disappearing as the city has expanded.

It was one of the first wattles cultivated in Europe, where a specimen was recorded growing in Empress Josephine's garden at Malmaison in France.

Of course, we made time to visit the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, which lies right on the harbour between the famous Opera House and the Art Gallery. Both the Gallery and the Garden are free to enter, demonstrating an Australian belief that such cultural experiences should be available to all. It poured rain that day and as I've posted images of the garden on my travel blog in the past, I'll just add this magnificent gum tree (Eucalyptus grandis) near the Gallery entrance.

However, we also had the opportunity to visit Mt Annan Botanical Garden on the western outskirts of Sydney. This 416-hectare garden opened in 1988 with the mission to preserve and display Australian native plants. I hadn't visited since its very early days and the transformation from former grazing land is amazing, starting with a grove of tree ferns near the visitor centre.

Not far away, a giant bee presides over lower-growing plants.

There are large drifts of my favourite kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos),

demonstrating why they got their common name.

and many other plants familiar to most Australians like Old Man Banksia (Banksia serrata) and grass trees (Xanthorrhoea).

Banksias are among the strangest of plants among many strange native species.

Other oddities include a Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris),

which has a beautiful green trunk with "eyes" staring back at you.

There's also the Pineapple Zamia, with its characteristic cone-shaped flower. As this specimen wasn't in bloom, I thought it could just as easily have been called Peacock Zamia for those lovely green "tail feathers".

Its label saves me the effort of writing out its complicated botanical name.

Apart from plant labels, we encountered occasional warning signs, important in a country that is home to seven of the world's most venomous snakes.

However, luckily for us the more dangerous ones kept out of our way, perhaps justifiably thinking we were dangerous too.