Colourful Callistemon

I had a look at the schools and colleges photo competition display in the gardens the other day, there are some very nice pictures in there, worth a look.  One of the categories was the subject of 'colour' - well there is plenty of that in the gardens at the moment!  I have been impressed lately by the Callistemon (Bottlebrush) in the gardens, they are all flowering beautifully and there are so many different shades of red, pink yellow and white. 

This photo is taken near the CSIRO gate, the red Callistemon is called 'Firebrand' and the pink one is Callistemon polandii called 'Peak Downs'.

  Here are some more very pretty ones from around the gardens, the first is Callistemon pearsonii.  The last with the butterfly (sorry, I'm not sure which - it wouldn't open its wings!) is not on a Callistemon but a Melaleuca - Melaleuca Sieberi these two genus are hard to tell apart.   Indeed, I have read on wikipedia that Callistemon is now placed in the genus Melaleuca.

These little beetles are interesting too - there have been swarms of them around the Melaleuca in the last few days, I guess they are some sort of pollen beetle in pollen heaven with all these beautiful flowers, unfortunately I'm not - I'm just sneezing my head off with hayfever!