Grevillea “Ned Kelly”
Grevillea “Ned Kelly” (syn Masons Hybrid) is a hybrid between Grevillea banksii and Grevillea bipinnatifida. This was the plant that introduced me to Australian native plants as it was growing in my garden when we purchased that house in 1998.
Grevillea Ned Kelly
It was just outside our dining room window and was always covered in birds feasting on the flowers. In fact this plant was so floriferous it was hard to find a time to give it an annual prune and tidy up.
Apart from the annual prune this plant required zero maintenance. It never needed to be watered and just kept on looking good year after year. For someone after a low maintenance drought tolerant garden this is a plant this is definitely a good starting point.
Grevillea Superb
One of the other great things about this plant is that it has several other brothers and sisters that have been bred from the same parents. Grevillea “Superb”, Grevillea “Robyn Gordon”, Grevillea “Coconut Ice” and Grevillea “Peaches and Cream” are just a few. Each of these Grevilleas are as garden worthy as each other and in some respects they are such great performers that they have become quite common in Australian gardens and public landscapes. The important thing about these Grevilleas though is that they do need an annual prune to tidy them up but apart from this they will flower for most of the year and attract birds like you wouldn’t believe.
Grevillea Robyn Gordon
The bad news for me though is that they really don’t like phosphorus at all. The G Superb that I planted in my garden died after about a year of just barely hanging on and I’m sure that G Peaches and Cream would now also be dead if I hadn’t have treated it with Powerfeed. The Powerfeed bought it back from deaths door and despite new green growth coming back some time ago it still hasn’t flowered. I’ve now treated it with a more balanced native fertilizer so we’ll see how it goes over the next few months. Hopefully it will start to flower again soon.
Another Grevillea that I’ve also tried in my new garden is Grevillea “Strawberry Sundae”. This appears to have the same parents as the others but is more prostrate. It has reacted in the same manner as G Peaches and Cream to the phosphorus and Powerfeed, so hopefully it will flower as well soon.
Grevillea Peaches and Cream, left and Grevillea Strawberry Sundae right. Both recovering from Phosporus Toxicity.
All in all this group of Grevilleas are all very easy to grow. They are all drought tolerant plants that flower for most of the year and require little maintenance. All they need is an annual prune and make sure you keep the fertilizer away from them.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Banksia Oblongifolia
- Banksia Seminuda Flowers
- Pruning your Alyogyne Huegelii
- Growing Agave Attenuata in a Pot
- Eremophila "Big Poly"
Grevillea Rhyolitica
This is a fantastic Grevillea that I grew once before in my last garden. It’s normally sold as Grevillea Deua Flame or just Deua Grevillea. The reason that I like it so much is that it grows fairly quickly and always seems to be covered in flowers.
A beautiful ornamental flower.
The other great thing about this Grevillea is that it might appeal to gardeners that aren’t normally attracted to Grevilleas. It doesn’t have serrated leaves and its flower are a bit more ornamental, so it’s a little bit different and could even be used in cottage type gardens.
So because of the above reasons I decided to buy another one for my new garden. The first challenge for the plant though, will be to survive with the phosphorus in my soil. This to me though is part of the experiment. To start off with though, I’ve decided not to treat it with Powerfeed as I’d like to establish if it can tolerate the phosphorus without it. If it does start to show the effects of phosphorus toxicity though I’ll then treat it with the Powerfeed and see if the Nitrogen can then turn it around.
The first step when planting is to soak it in a bucket of water with Seasol and Multicrop Plant Starter. I do this to every plant that I plant and then place it into the hole to let the excess drain into the soil where it is about to be planted. It also wouldn’t hurt to also tip a bit more of this solution into the hole before the plant goes in especially if it’s a hot day.
Soak in Seasol and Plant Starter. Before and after tip pruning.
The other thing that is probably worth mentioning here is that I’m planting it just as we’re coming into winter here at Melbourne. I know that most gardeners recommend planting in spring and autumn but really I don’t think it matters. I’ve planted plants in the middle of summer and watered them just as you would the plants that I’d planted in the spring. They don’t have any trouble surviving. I think that the distinction here is that I’m talking about tough drought tolerant plants because that’s what I grow.
When I grew this Grevillea in my last garden it grew very quickly and because it was always covered in flowers it never really got pruned as often as it should have. With this one though I’ve decided to tip prune it right from the start. This will make it grow a lot bushier and more compact. You will also notice that where I’ve planted it there is also probably not enough room so I will have to prune it regularly so that it doesn’t get too large.
Also worth mentioning here is that when I bought this plant there were others to select from that were actually flowering. I selected this one because it had the best root system and as I consequence I’ve thrown away the little garden stake it came with. It’s roots are supporting it quite nicely. Also another thing about tip pruning it after planting is that it’s not as top heavy and it gives the roots more of a chance to support the plant in strong winds if required.
Anyway that’s it for now, a work in progress. I’ll come back to this again in the spring and we’ll see how it’s going.
In the meantime if you come accross Grevillea Rhyolitica in a nursery buy it and let me know how it goes.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Banksia Oblongifolia
- Banksia Seminuda Flowers
- Pruning your Alyogyne Huegelii
- Growing Agave Attenuata in a Pot
- Eremophila "Big Poly"
Powerfeed
Powerfeed is a fertilizer that is made by the same company that make Seasol. I use it because it was the liquid fertilizer that had the least amount of Phosphorus in it.
I’d also used it before on other non Proteaceae plants but now days I mainly just use on my Proteaceae plants when they seem to suffering from the affects of the Phosphorus in my soil.
Another reason I use Powerfeed is because I’m such a big fan of Seasol and so I reckon that Powerfeed has to be another quality gardening product as well.
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