Grevilleas

Bill Grant wrote:
WARNING! Be careful about growing this, the largest grevillea in the family. A man in Berkeley some years ago cut down his enormous tree - and was in the hospital for days. Why? For many people who even touch it there is a terrible reaction - skin eruptions. Some other grevilleas (including some recent hybrids) also affect people who are sensitive to skin eruptions.
Hi
This did surprise me as I was brought up in a garden with several of these trees and in my part of Kenya G rubusta was widely grown, but I Have never hard of it causing this reaction.

While many people in central NZ grow Grevilleas, G. robusta is a borderline species, preferring higher temperatures than our local ones and the only trees I have seen around the area have been poor runty specimens.

I think the cultural problems people have with some Grevillea species and their hybrids may well relate to the part of Australia in which thay are native. In general, while most of their eastern flora has proved easily adaptable to cultivation, a lot of plants from either the far west or the central desert can be just about impossible to keep in good health in any normal temperate soil and conditions.

Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ.     Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
NEW PICTURES ADDED 4/Feb/2004

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