This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

re grevilleas

I've just been reading Dave MacKenzie's Timber Press book on ground
covers, in which he recommends several unusual grevilleas for that
purpose. 

The spp he discusses include: G. aquifolium, G. australis, G. x
gaudichaudi, G. obtusifolia, G. pteridifolia. I imagine that, though
he describes them all as 'frost tolerant,' he was originally thinking
of them only for, say, the hotter and more or less frost-free parts of
California. The book has now been issued in Europe, though, with no
indication of any differences in climate or cultural requirements,
which makes me 'wonder' (to put it mildly) about their suitability
over here. 

G. obtusifolia and G. pteridifolia are perhaps the two most difficult
species of those he recommends to imagine in European conditions. 

G.obtusifolia I understand (Olde & Marriott, The Grevillea Book) is
from the Swan River area of Western Australia and O & M suggest
'resists frost to at least -6C' - but of course those temps. come
after days as warm as those in an average N. European summer, which is
v. different from -6C nights after days of +3 or +4C at best and quite
possibly of -1C or -2C. 

G. pteridifolia is even more unlikely since it comes from TROPICAL
Australia. It's difficult to imagine that it would be seriously
frost-tolerant ANYwhere? (Even in Australian conditions??)

 (The prostrate form apparently comes from around Cape Flattery. I
gather there are various names attached to this - e.g., O.p. 'Mandarin
[or MandarinE] Mantle' - but I'm told those names are really no more
than nurserymen's marketing devices attached to what's really nothing
more than the wild form. Anyone in Australia got an opinion on that?
What does 'Mandarin [or Mandarine] Mantle' mean, anyway??!) 

I've not just sniping at MacKenzie's book (which in many ways is both
useful and interesting) - though I do think that US books are too
often issued in Europe without adequate climatic readjustment (I don't
for a moment doubt that the same is true of UK books in the US).
Rather, I'm interested in finding out: 

(a) Are these spp successfully grown in, say, California - and if so
WHERE in California? 

(b) Has anyone had real success with (any of) them in Europe or the
UK? 

(I know of one person in the UK successfully growing several plants of
G. australis outside - plants from several different provenances, too.
Betty Clemo, the National Collection holder, in Cornwall, may well
also grow this species - and perhaps some of the others?? Has anybody
got any definite information? The person growing G. australis
suggested that G. x gaudichaudi MIGHT be ok outside in the far south
of Cornwall. I'd love to be able to grow it up  here in the north, if
only for the fun of saying the name!) 

(c) Is my information about Australian natural habitats/temperature
ranges for these plants more or less accurate? Would Australian
members expect them to be as unsuccessful in Europe's relatively cold
winter days-as-well-as-nights as I've suggested? Are they grown, even,
in colder gardens in Australia??


Tim Longville
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index