Sowing the Seeds

I have this lovely little grafted Emu Bush in my garden (Eremophila latrobei.) It is currently in flower even though it is Winter here and has been flowering for quite a while now. It is a bright and sunny sight on a cold miserable day.

This particular species of Eremophila is from the inland states of Australia. It like the hot dry country, thus it can be difficult to grow in my Eastern seaboard garden. This one is grafted and it is grafted onto Myoporum rootstock. The Myoporum is in the same family as Eremophila and it is an extremely hardy little plant! This makes it then very easy for avid Eremophila lovers to enjoy this plant grown anywhere in Australia. How fantastic is that?

This little eremophila only grows to around 2 metres or so in height and it has the most beautiful purple flowers. The foliage is stunning too, being quite grey (which usually indicates drought hardy to me!) and it has very pretty little seed pods.

If you are interested in growing Eremophila’s, be sure to check out all the grafted species available now. There are many enthusiasts out there and about 200 different species to collect!

I know I have written a post before about these beautiful tropical Grevilleas, but they are just stunning at the moment!

I don’t think there is actually a time of year when they are not flowering. The Wattle birds just love them and are continually foraging the flowers for nectar.

Grevillea ‘Superb’ is actually a hybrid of a QLD Grevillea, ‘Grevillea banksii’ and a W.A Grevillea, ‘Grevillea bipinnatifida’. Now the QLD Grevillea actually has white flowers, whilst the W.A one has red, therefore the hybrid of Grevillea ‘Superb’ has these enchanting salmon pink coloured flowers.

This Grevillea is just so hardy and it even tolerates the moderate frosts we get here too! Because it only grows to around 1.5 to 2 metres high it is the perfect plant for many gardens.

One of the most spectacular flowering plants in my garden would have to be the native Grevillea ‘Superb’.

It is a fairly common Grevillea and many people have it in their gardens because of it’s wonderful hardiness. It can tolerate light frosts and very open exposed conditions on tough, gravelly soil.

It also flowers just about all year round and the nectar feeding birds just love it! Sometimes the flowers really do droop down quite heavily as they are so laden with nectar.

The bush grows to around 1.5 metres in height and also about the same in width. It is classified as a ‘tropical’ Grevillea, although I am not really sure why. It may be because it looks like a tropical kind of plant or because it actually originates from the more tropical regions of our country.

There are now just heaps of these fantastic tropical type Grevilleas being bred. All with amazing flowers and colours ranging from brilliant red, pink, intense yellow, lemon all the way to white. Some of them have amazing names like ‘Gypsy Moon’,'Majestic’, and ‘Honey Gem’.

One of my personal favourites that is also one of the foremost cultivars is ‘Ned Kelly’. Named after Australia’s notorious bush ranger.