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Anigozanthos 'Big Red' (Large Red Kangaroo Paw) - An evergreen perennial that grows to 4 to 6 feet tall by 2 to 3 feet wide with fuzzy rich red flowers that look like small claws that rise high above the iris-like foliage from spring through fall (nearly year round along coast).
Plant in a sunny and open position in the garden in well-drained soils. Irrigate regularly to occasionally and fertilize in spring (not heavily and keep phosphorus on the low side). Fans only flower once and need to be cleaned out after the flowering period so remove the old leaves down to as low as possible at the end of a season. Care should be exercised that the new emerging fans are not damaged. Hardy and evergreen to about 25 degrees F and will re-sprout after being knocked down by temperatures as low as 20° F. It exhibits good disease resistance and is attractive to hummingbirds.
The genus was first named by the French botanist Jacques Labillardière 1800 when he collected and described the type species, Anigozanthos rufus, which he had collected during the d'Entrecasteaux expedition to Southwest Australia in 1792 though he did not provide a meaning for this name in his description. Several botanical texts list it as a combination of the Greek words 'anoigo' meaning "to expand" and 'anthos' meaning a "flower" which would be in reference to the the flower being split but others speculated it to be the combination of the Greek words 'anisos' meaning "unequal" and 'anthos' meaning a "flower" in reference to the irregular corolla.
Anigozanthos 'Big Red' has the largest flowers of the red cultivars that we grow. This triploid hybrid is the result of crossing a hybrid between Anigozanthos manglesii and a tetraploid hybrid of Anigozanthos flavidus with and hybrid between Anigozanthos rufus and a tetraploid hybrid of Anigozanthos flavidus. It was created by Keith Oliver, at Lakkari Native Plant Nursery in Western Australia and first registered as a cultivar in 1983. We have grown this showy Kangaroo Paw since 1996.
This information about Anigozanthos 'Big Red' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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