Grevillea in the USA

I was looking at blogs to do with gardening last night and came across a site called the Golden Gecko written in California (the name attracted me). That’s not too amazing in itself. What hit me in the face were the photos of Grevillea ‘Molongolo’ and Grevillea lavandulacea ‘Penola’.

These were being recommended as suitable plants for the impoverished soils in the area. And they would be good for that purpose. They also do well here (country South Australia).

“Molongolo” is a registered cultivar, a hybrid between a dwarf, yellow form of Grevillea juniperina from New South Wales and an upright, red-flowered form of G juniperina from near Canberra, ACT. It can grow up to 5m across in ideal conditions (I’d like to see that here!), with apricot coloured flowers. It needs to be tip pruned from an early age to encourage the denseness of a good ground covering plant. It also responds well to pruning.

As with most plants, pruning is best done after flowering but this plant has a long flowering period. In general I would say that when there are signs of new growth is a safe time to prune most evergreen plants. As a rule don’t prune back to bare wood, but look for small branches or shoots to cut back to (unless you know for sure that the plant will shoot from bare wood).

Grevillea lavandulacea ‘Penola’ has been in cultivation for many years. It has greyish foliage with a massed display of red and cream flowers which look wonderful against the grey foliage. Apparently there is a question about whether it is actually a true form of G lavandulacea as it is very close to Grevillea ‘Poorinda Illumina’. We’ll let the botanists fight about that! The town of Penola is in the south east of South Australia.

 

2 Responses to “Grevillea in the USA”

  1. I find it amazing where the readers of these blog are from. From the other side of the world comes a comment on the Grevillea I mentioned. Quite exciting in that I learned some new stuff.

    We have a low phosphorus soil which Grevillea seem to like. The main concern here in Sierra Nevada Mountains and Foothills are deer, which Grevillea seems to resist. I had to laugh out loud when I read the comment on Wallabies eating them. I was wondering if you have Wallabie resistant plants, if there is such a thing?

    Trey Pitsenberger
    http://www.thegoldengecko.com

  2. Corinne says:

    It is exciting isn’t it, Trey? I loved the photos.

    Most people who have trouble with Wallabies and Kangaroos try fencing their plantings and hope for the best. They jump fences or barge their way through. They will eat anything, so highly prickly plants like many Grevillea, are a deterrant. Unfortunately many do not do well in highly alkaline soils.

    Corinne

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