Plant in full sun to light shade in a soil with good to average drainage and irrigate only occasionally with minimal fertilizer applications. It is drought tolerant and cold hardy to 20 degrees F and has proven not to be attractive to deer.

Banksia spinulosa is native to in dry forests and heathlands in the Australian states of Queensland where it can be found out in the open or in the understory. The species has a complicated taxonomic history with up four recognized varieties of which several have been described as sperate species. The name for the genus is one given by Carolus Linnaeus to honor the English botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who was on Captain James Cook's first expedition to Australia and collected the first Banksia specimens in 1770. The specific epithet is the Latin term meaning "having minute spines", likely in reference to the leaf tips. This plant was often called prickly-leaved banksia because of these leaf tips, but the common name hairpin banksia seems now to be used more often.

The cultivar 'Schnapper Point' was a collection made by Australian conservationist, horticulturalist, author and nurseryman Neil Marriott and given this name that references its collection location at Schnapper Point (also spelled Snapper Point), a rugged coastal lookout and headland in Murramarang National Park, just south of Ulladulla in New South Wales. Another plant with lighter colored flowers that was collected at the same location is called 'Birthday Candles'. It was an introduction under the name 'Schnapper Point' into the US in 2001 as a plant within the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum Koala Blooms Australian Plant Introduction program but in Australia the cultivar name 'Coastal Cushion' is now more commonly used for this cultivar.

We started growing this plant in 2001 and while it proved to be very successful and attractive in the bay area gardens, it was more difficult to keep happy in Southern California, possibly due to soil or water quality issues. It was also problematic keeping it happy in our Santa Barbara nursery and, while we loved the look of this plant and that it remained smaller than most in the genus, we felt it better left to the northern California growers in the Koala Blooms program, and we discontinued growing it in 2009. 

Information displayed on this page about Banksia spinulosa 'Schnapper Point' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.