Taft Garden Fridays; the Australian and South African collections

When I first heard of the Taft Garden it was because of their extensive Australian plant collection, things like this Stenocarpus sinuatus, also known as the firewheel tree.Jo O'Connell (owner of Australian Native Plants Nursery) was responsible for creating the Australian Garden here. Granted I don't have much to compare it to, but it's pretty outstanding.
The blooms on the tree above, a banksia.
Banksia seed pods are best!
In fact I guess I love all stages of banksia blooms.
Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon'
These are not round baby chicks, but what they are I do not know.
Banksia blechnifolia
I love how this one creeps along the ground.
Based on the foliage—and the fact that I briefly grew one of these—I want to call this one Banksia serrata, but that's just a guess.


Another few unknown banksia species...


A few mystery seedpods.


Some of these leaves may have come home with me. Yes, I am serious.
An acacia in full glorious bloom.

Another grevillea, I didn't see a label but it might be Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' (?)


Maybe Banksia marginata (?), whatever it is I had a lot of fun photographing it...



If that tree was in my garden, I think I'd spend a lot of time sitting in it.
Hakea laurina


Over near the house at the back of the grounds the party is (literally) about to get started...
The party that bumped me from my reservation, not that I'm bitter. As I mentioned in the first part of my Taft Garden coverage there's now a website where you make reservations to visit, and pay—which I did. Then just a couple of days before we left for vacation I got a call telling me they'd booked the garden for an event and I would not be able to visit—could they reschedule me for another day? Not so easy when you're traveling hundreds of miles and have a packed schedule. I was feeling a little dismissed.
Thankfully we reached a compromise and I was able to visit earlier on the day I'd planned to be there.
Xanthorrhoea (sp?), aka grass tree.
Standing in a grove of these monsters is truly breathtaking.
A close-up of the bloom-spike.
And a kinda scary fellow lurking in the patch. 
I can't imagine coming upon this at dusk.

Leucadendron argenteum

These final few photos are of other leucadendron that I can't ID, but I adore just the same. I really do wish I was able to grow these South African protea.



If you're in the area—Ojai, about an hour and a half north of Los Angeles—I highly recommend visiting the Taft, make a reservation here.