Thanks Roy & lomatia, I looked up A. terminalis on the Aust Plant Image Index website that justcorreas suggested above and by the picture of the flowers and leaves it looks like you two are on the button. The somewhat dark green of the leaves contributes as well as their form and the flowers. I'll check out the Kuranga catalogue Mt Evelyn Vic and see if they have it otherwise I guess as I mentioned above, it will be seed collection. I know you can't collect seed from National Parks, but there are lots of the bushes just outside the Flora park. Thanks for all the help identifying this wattle

If you go here ---> http://www.anbg.gov.au/images/photo_cd/index.html select Asteraceae from the left list, you will then scroll down to find Senecio listed on the right. If you check the listed varieties you will see by the photo's if you are on the right track. It's not something I am familiar with. Best of luck.

Ok, the neighbours remember planting it but don't have a clue what it is. The picture is an image I had on file, a bit close. It doesn't appear to be the same plant in any case. I did read (can't remember where) - that Grevillea fililoba can have flowers ranging from pink to red. Sorry can't back it up though. If my grevillea isn't the same as the previous - does anyone know what it is?

I've developed a new kitchen habit - the "slops" jug kept beside the sink. The problem with kitchen greywater seems to be the detergents and the fats, so any water containing neither goes into this. It's interesting much washing-up can really be done with detergent-free water and a good scrub. Detergent is only needed for foods containing fats and oils. A small vege garden plus lots of my precious native plants in pots are easily kept watered a bit at a time with this jug, as they're not far from the kitchen door. The ethics of "water down the drain" vary according to where the water goes. Those of us lucky enough to have septic systems appreciate that it goes back into our own patch. Water that ends up in the inland river systems must only add to the national good (though it's interesting that the Toowoomba citizens who voted "no" don't seem to mind that their wastewater is used by other Australians all the way to Adelaide for drinking water, with no better treatment than systems which are decidedly of lesser quality than the one they so firmly rejected). Where wastewater is pumped out to sea, there is certainly an urgency about recycling, whether it is by use of greywater by individuals, or by government-built systems which recycle it back into the taps of the citizens. To capture freshwater high in the catchment thereby removing it from the river systems, and to send it more or less straight out to sea with none but the human race having got any benefit from it is not fair on all those other organisms, is it? The form our water restrictions take is pretty idiotic, too. Gardening is the only activity where humans use water to benefit the ecology and slow down the transfer of water from upper catchment to the sea.There should be more of it, not less, in a drought. A more ecologically aware (and perhaps more democratic) system of would restrict the amount of water to households on a litres per person basis,and let us decide for ourselves how to use those precious litres. We might prefer to bath less and water our gardens more! At present we allow members of our government to impose their own personal opinions as to which kinds of domestic water use are more wasteful than others. So we can legally fill our spa baths as often as we like. Trish