Archive for the 'Hardy Australian Native PLants' Category

Grevillea robusta is a large tree and grows very well in our dry, highly alkaline soil. At this time of the year it has these fiery orange clusters of ‘spider’ flowers. The honey eaters and lorikeets find this a great food source and many complaints are heard of the rowdy birds at dawn and sunset especially.

These make good windbreak and screening plants. Many are grown in house yards but as they can be rather large need to be kept away from the house. A general rule is that the tree needs to be as far from the house as the tree’s ultimate height.

Grevillea robusta is the plant onto which other species of grevillea are grafted.

I was not expecting to see this unusual tree growing in the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. It is a small to medium tree originally from the drier areas of central western Queensland and northern inland New South Wales.

The trunks of the trees are prominently bottle shaped with large specimens having a diameter up to 2m (6 feet). The tree is hardy in most areas once established and of course would appreciate some water during hot dry periods. Young trees are slow growing and make attractive and unusual pot plants for some years.

This tree is an important fodder tree for stock during dry periods. The Aborigines ate the young roots and seeds either raw or roasted.

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These trees are very adaptable and well worth growing. With an average rainfall of 340mm (about 131/2 inches) per year, a number of species grow well in this region. While on holiday in western New South Wales last month, I found Brachychiton populneus growing in the area north of Lake Cargelligo. The rainfall there is about the same as we have here, perhaps a little more. They have a lovely dense spreading crown and are an attractive tree when not in flower.

These trees are semi deciduous, losing their leaves just before flowering. This particular species has bell shaped cream flowers, blotched with red on the inside. Young leaves are tinged with pink. They are very easy to grow and tolerate a wide range of climatic conditions and soils. Although very drought tolerant, they appreciate water during the summer. This species is frost hardy.

Because they are slow growing while young, they make excellent pot plants and are used for indoor decorations.

Further information can be found here.