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Overview
A small size spreading shrub growing to just over a metre. It has glossy green elliptical leaves and pendulous spider like flower heads for most of the year, heaviest from Autumn to early Spring.
This is much smaller and prettier than subsp Rhyolitica and therefore tends to be the more popular.
Will work well on patios and in garden beds.
This is an extremely hardy variety.
It is frost and heat tolerant.
Once established it is also drought tolerant.
Soil: They grow best in all well drained soils.
In areas where the soil is mainly clay, creation of raised beds should help the drainage and increase the chances of growing Grevillea successfully.
It responds well to mulching and occasional deep watering in dry conditions
Maintenance: Will benefit from pruning - remove about one third of the plant to maintain a compact shape and prevent the plant becoming straggly.
Diseases: Borers - If a limb is looking stressed and there is sawdust around an entrance hole - you probably have borer.
Grevillea Leaf Miner - can lead to premature leaf drop
Cottony cushion scale - produce honeydew that promotes sooty mold that not only looks unsightly but affects the leaf's ability to photosynthesize.
Leaf Spot Fungus - is not a huge problem but is always worst in warm, humid conditions.
Painted Apple Moth - chews the leaves -
Dieback Phytophthora - A soil fungus that invades the roots and starves them of food and water.
Other Species: There are over 250 species of Grevillea of which most are found in Australia.
135 species originate in South-Western Australia, 70 in South-Eastern Australia 45 in the tropics and 25 species in semi arid or arid areas.
Many species that grow well in WA do not grow so well in the wetter, more humid areas of the Eastern States.
Author: Bob Saunders.