moonvoice | [PotD] Grevillea from the garden.

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I actually really love this grevillea,
mostly because - so far - it provides blossoms all year round,
and is extraordinarily robust.
I'll have to find out what cultivar it is,
because out of all of the shrubbing grevilleas I've gotten, this is both hardy,
and satisfyingly beautiful.

*

Grevillea from the garden.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

needled_ink_1975

My neighbor has one with flowers that look just like that. It seems to like S. Africa– flowers like crazy. Hers is a candelabria. Perhaps the same?

–Nici

From:

moonvoice

Not the same, but thank you all the same! :) It's likely not even a cultivar based on the Western Australia varieties (though I do have a couple of those). I daresay that - like many Australian grevillea cultivars - it's come out of the Eastern states. Which makes it all the more pleasing that it's so hardy in our conditions. :D

Florabase is the best website.

From:

moonvoice

*digs around in old plant notes* Ah that's right, I always forget because there's no official agreement on whether it's a cultivar (the cultivar is called 'Moonlight') based solely off Grevillea whiteana (a Queensland species), or a hybrid based off G. whiteana and G. banksii. I am in the 'hybrid' camp, but the original records of documentation for this cultivar aren't very good.

Wouldn't surprise me that the grevilleas love S. Africa! :D Likewise, proteas do very well here in Western Australia, and we have quite a few protea farms. :)

From:

needled_ink_1975

Thanks for looking it up.

And about proteas: I had a very amusing argument with a little Aussie lad who insisted that proteas were from Australia, and we'd 'stolen' them (he knew about proteas, because his grannie loved them). So I foolishly decided to try adult logic on him. Our cricket team is called the Proteas, and I asked him what our team is called. "Bastards!" was his answer. I declared him the winner.

From:

moonvoice

Lol, I think as a kid I used to think proteas were from Australia too! When I started getting into xeriscaping, I realised very quickly that though proteas are lovely and amazing here, they are not native. They are a popular cut flower here, is that the same in S. Africa? Our nextdoor neighbours where I used to live had some lovely proteas in their front garden, and I still admire them every time I visit my folks.

From:

needled_ink_1975

They're unfortunately not as popular here as they used to be, because they've become astronomically expensive. We pay about the same for cut proteas as someone does in London, including shipping and import duties. The most expensive are, of course, the most lovely: King and Pincushion. But more people in the Western Cape are growing them in their own gardens instead of buying them cut, and ecologically that's brilliant– benefits various bird, bug, and small mammal species. I live in KwaZulu-Natal, on the East coast, and most protea species really don't like our climate. W. Cape has a Mediterranean climate, with winter rains and dry summers; we have summer rains. Our former garden had a protea bush that was beautifully green but it never flowered.

From:

moonvoice

Wow, it's really unfortunate that they've become so expensive. :/ I do think it's awesome that people are cultivating them in their own gardens, I wish more Australians would grow local native plants where possible, but there's a real lack of education and the nurseries tend to stock exotics more than anything else, is that the same where you are?

From:

needled_ink_1975

Hey. Sorry this is late.

We have laws here about exotics. Sometimes they're brilliant laws, and sometimes they're... stupid. Nurseries, by law, have to stock indigenous species, and that's brilliant.

The stupid– blanket laws regarding exotic trees that result in them being felled. One example. Camphor trees really don't spread like weeds, and they provide shade, and secure nesting places and food for many species of birds and small mammals. Owls, in particular, love camphor trees. We've noticed that the number of Scops and Cape Eagle owls have dropped in our area since a bunch of people chose to fell the camphor trees in their yards rather than face a possible fine for having them. The wording of that law is bad. It reads like *everyone* WILL be fined for having a camphor tree or several, but when a lawyer reads it they interpret it thus: you'll get a fine if you allow the uncontrolled spread of camphor trees. Now, who has a camphor tree forest in their quarter/half-acre yard? This law also applies to bottlebrush, English willow, English/American oaks, walnut, NZ wattle, pines and firs, eucalyptus, and even central African mahoganny. Ugh. WTF? So there's been a lot of 'panic felling' of trees over the last 11 years.

Back to nurseries. Our nearest nursery doesn't only sell plants and trees. They breed several species of chameleons and you can buy chameleons to go with your indigenous shrub—but only if you buy indigineous plants. The whole idea is to get several chameleon species off the at-risk/endangered lists, and it's working (in this area, anyway).

From:

calissa

I've not seen a white grevillea before. It really is quite lovely! And a very nice shot, too.

I have a prostrate grevillea with some very nice red flowers in our garden.