Clockwise from left: Grevillea ‘Boorloo Moon’, Grevillea ‘Elegance’, Grevillea ‘Lilac Tangles’. Photos by Kat Pearson.
BY KAT PEARSON, GIRL IN THE GREEN
It is now September and technically spring! Even though in our climate spring really starts in August and is kind of over by the end of September…
Grevilleas have been blooming all winter and are still putting out their beautiful spidery flowers. Some varieties will spot flower all year round, but it’s winter through to spring when they put on their best show.
The flowers are packed with nectar and bring the birds in by the truckload. Rainbow lorikeets, noisy miners and blue-faced honeyeaters love nectar-rich flowers and can often be seen (and heard!) darting in and out of shrubs, fighting with each other over ownership of their sweet harvest.
The grevillea genus is huge and there are so many species, varieties and cultivars so there is surely one for you.
Typically, they prefer sandy, well-drained soil, but a few tolerate slightly less-than-ideal conditions, such as Grevillea juniperina and grafted grevillias on G. robusta rootstock. Despite this, if your drainage is a little iffy, it’s a good idea to plant on a bit of a mound.
Once you’ve found a good spot, the world is your oyster when it comes to grevillea choice. They are available in all colours ranging from creamy white to yellows and oranges, pinks, reds, even purples (cv. Dorothy Gordon, I’m looking at you!). Foliage is in various shades of grey-green and silver tones, with leaf shapes from rosemary-like needles to fern shapes and broader, more ‘regular’ leaf silhouettes. And size? Ground covers, prostrate shrubs, upright shrubs, small trees, big trees….
I grow lots of grevilleas because they love my sandy soil. My favourites are all currently flowering their heads off in my verge garden: Grevillea ‘cherry pie’ – a small tree with fine needles and vibrant showy pink flowers; G. ‘lilac tangles’ – a low ground cover type shrub with grey green leaves and delicate lilac flowers, and G. ‘Boorloo Moon’ – a prostrate shrub to about 1m with silvery lobed leaves and pink (you can pretty much call me Barbie, I love pink) flowers.
You can find grevilleas for sale anywhere, but may I suggest ‘Princess Fancy Plants’ in Chandler. Bev stocks an amazing range (not just grevilleas – I guarantee you’ll fall in love with something) and their customer service is second to none.
