With Spencer Shaw
Grevillea’s are a mainstay of Native Plant Nurseries. Honey Gem, Sandra Gordon, Robyn Gordon and Bronze Rambler are just a few of the hybrid non-local native Grevillea’s that are present in many people’s gardens.
Closer to home on the Sunshine Coast we do actually have a few local native Grevilleas.
The Coochin Hills Grevillea (Grevillea hodgei) is a very rare shrub to 4 metres found on some of the Glasshouse Mountains; rather spectacularly it has large creamy white flowers upto 20cm in length.
We have 3 small shrubby grevillea’s that grow between 30 centimetres and 1 metre, with Pink flowers including Grevillea leiophylla, Grevillea reptans (from Cooloola North) and Grevillea humilis subsp. lucens (from Caloundra south). These three occur in similar habitats of heath and open forest and can flower over many months from spring to autumn.
Then of course we have our world famous Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta). It is perhaps the tallest of all of the Grevillea’s, these spectacular trees grown to 40 metres. They occur naturally in our western river systems, but have been extensively logged for their valuable and durable timber. These forest giants are a great source of nectar for wildlife and their leaf litter is great for improving soils.
Another tree Grevillea (upto 20 metres) that occurs in our drier rainforests is the White Yeil-Yeil (Grevillea hilliana). This is another spectacular tree with silvery undersides to its leaves and white flowers upto 30 centimetres.
Some of our local native Grevillea’s are hard to get for your garden from native nurseries. However there’s plenty of opportunity for you to appreciate them in their natural setting in many our native heathland and open forest woodland walks, so get walking and enjoy the view!
