Yesterday I took a walk along the beach. It was a glorious day and the water just sparkled. There are many whales around here at the moment and I was hoping to catch a glimpse of one, but no luck!
While I was walking through the sand dunes I was admiring all the tough little plants that grow there. They thrive virtually in beach sand, are pelted with wind and salt spray and survive on very little water. Many of the Coastal Tea Tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) have gnarled and twisted trunks, they emulate the dunes and look truly magical. There are little ‘Pigfaces’ (Carpobrotus rossii) which is a groundcover plant with fleshy leaves and stems. It also produces edible bracts just behind the flower, that many Australian Aboriginal people used as a valuable food source.
There were also some of my favourites:
Silver Leaf Banksia (Banksia marginata). This one was growing just behind the surf club. I love Banksia’s and there are so many amazing species, from all over Australia. When I was a young nursery apprentice I remember I dreamed of discovering a new species of Banksia and had the honour of naming it after myself! Unbelievably it was blue with pink stripes 
Banksia’s were actually named after Sir Joseph Banks who was an English botanist who travelled with James Cook on the first fleet that landed in Australia about 280 odd years ago now. He must of been amazed at our incredible botanical diversity! Can you imagine how exhilarating it would be going into uncharted lands and discovering a whole new horticultural wonderland? Wow now that would really be INCREDIBLE!!
This is the seed pods of Banksia ericifolia. The flower is a brilliant copper orange and quite tall and slender. The seed pods are of course unique and they are very hairy and bold. It’s funny though because as a child growing up in Australia, many childhood stories were read from the wonderful May Gibbs collection. All her divine little characters were illustrated with impeccable detail, drawing on our native flora. But as in every story, there were the bad guys….and they were the ‘Big Bad Banksia Men’.
When you look intently, or gaze into a Banksia bush next time, see if you can see their little faces smiling out at you.
