My DD gave us a gorgeous Grevillea 'Long John' for anniversary gift. It's huge, covered in blooms, in a 5 gallon pot. Tag says native to Australia, full sun, low water, hardy to mid 20s. Has anyone grown these? Not sure if I should plant it now, or leave it in the pot and wait till spring (Feb). We've had mild weather and now it's blustery and expecting a near freeze tonite. But will warm to the 60s...
And... can anyone tell me if it's deer resistant????
Grevillea "Long John"
Chrissy, Randy, Don.....need your help here.
OOOOOOOH hardy tropicals, just what I need! :) Congrats and Happy Anniversary!
Hmmm good drainage, no ferilizer except a tiny sprinkle of some aged manure (In Spring) and some compost ...cut back after flowering ...just behind the flower heads.Don't panic they are pretty tough plant in morning sun afternoon shade and near a brick wall if it gets very cold in Winter biggest things to remember don't drown, don't fertilize and trim after flowering.Enjoy and good luck.:)
chrissy
Thanks Chrissy...I have a spot picked out against a rock wall, but it gets afternoon sun. My backyard is too shady, so it will have to go in the front. Glad you mentioned the fertilizer. I would have doused it along with everything else. Appreciate the information. Happy Holidays...Sandi
This is a rather old thread so I hope someone will see my new post.
Three years ago I planted a beautiful 15 gallon Grevillea ‘Long John’ and it has done nothing but go slowly downhill since then. It was planted as a focal point in the garden with the expectation that it would grow, bloom and be a beautiful plant to see coming in through the entry.
At this point is still as tall with the same two main branches and it has a few blooms in late winter and spring, but small side branches have gradually dropped off, no new ones have grown, and it has only about 20% of the foliage it did when purchased. I'm in zone 10a/b, and in summer it gets a little morning sun and then shade the rest of the day, and in winter it gets sun about 2/3 of the day. The few leaves it has seem to turn yellow and die, although it does get a few replacements. In researching yesterday I found that they can become yellowed in alkaline soils (which we have) but applications of iron sulfate or sulfur will correct the problem so I plan on trying that. However, I don't think that's the only problem but I'm not sure what to do. It has had no fertilizer.
It's on drip irrigation so it doesn't get overwatered, but our drainage isn't great as you hit extremely hard ancient seabed about 14-18" down and in places need a jackhammer to get through it. Most other plants do fine but I know Grevilleas don't want to be wet.
So I don't know if it's lack of sun, poor drainage, or our alkaline soil that is slowing killing it. I'm wondering if it should be moved to the sloped part of the yard which has good drainage and potentially more sun, or would it do okay in a large (almost 20" box size) terra cotta pot? I've included two photos, one showing the plant and one with a close up showing the yellow and dead leaves.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Please excuse the sideways photos, can't figure out why it is always doing that lately.
When you speak of "Grevilleas" there's hundreds of species from over a huge range of environmental conditions. It would be good to know what this one actually is to identify the environmental conditions it needs. Some grevilleas grow in swamps standing in water for a lot of the year. Some grow in sandy acidic well drained soils. Some are from hot tropical climates, some from cooler climates. But all of them hate phosphorus in fertiliser. So if you're fertilising choose one that has zero P content. Most of those sold commercially like well drained acidic soils. That could be your problem if the water isn't able to drain away from under the plant. Your idea to move it is probably your best course of action initially and see how that works.
Thanks tropicbreeze. I didn't know Grevilleas grow in such varied conditions. After more research on mine I've come to the conclusion that moving it will be the best solution. Annoying as the landscaper unwisely choose it for a focal point and it was initially perfectly, but has slowly become an eyesore. I've come to the conclusion that not enough hours of sun and difficult drainage are the culprits.
By the way, I do mention in the above post that it's a Grevillea ‘Long John’ and that it has had no fertilizer of any type.
Good Luck with it Annie. It's obviously a cultivar, or even might be a hybrid. But it would be good to know what specie/s it was developed from. Most that I know like full sun. Some species grow in rainforests but they're usually emergent trees so get the sun when they get tall and come through the canopy.
Tropicbreeze thanks for the further information. I love research so looked a bit more and yes it is a cultivar, its parents being G. johnsonii x G. longistyla, which I read are closely related although quite different in height. G. 'Long John' is supposed to be one of the easier ones to grow, although difficult to propagate and often in short supply here, so I was happy to get such a nice one. I will do a little more research about its parents before I make a final decision as to where to relocate it. It would be nice if I can eventually find its happy place and have it grow into the beauty the pictures show.
As I learn more about the plants of Australia I'm always amazed. Many of them seem to be extremely tough and very drought tolerant, but more attractive with flowers for a longer period of time than many of our natives here in California. Must be an interesting place to explore the flora and fauna, the later of which you also have so many very fascinating types found no where else on earth.
You might find this link useful:
http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp9/grevillea-longistyla.html