|
Grevillea 'Austraflora Fanfare' - A low growing densely spreading evergreen groundcover shrub to under 1 foot tall by up to 15 feet wide. Its 7-inch-long leaves, very coarsely cut in a saw tooth pattern, are a good foil to the brush-like clusters of dark red flowers that emerge from silky buds from later winter through late fall.
Plant in full sun to moderate shade in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to very little during summer - quite drought tolerant once established. Hardy and evergreen to 25°F and root hardy and rebounding after temperatures down to around 20°F. This plant is a great tough groundcover that can smoother weeds and is resistant to predation by deer, rabbits and even gophers but is attractive to hummingbirds, pollinators and beneficial insects. Flowers and foliage are useful in flower arrangements.
Grevillea 'Austraflora Fanfare' is thought to be a hybrid between Grevillea gaudichaudii and Grevillea longifolia. It arose as a spontaneous seedling in the garden of Dr. Ann Warren of Warrandyte, Victoria and is sometimes listed as synonymous with the Leon Hodge Poorinda hybrids 'Poorinda Royal Carpet' and 'Poorinda Royal Mantle', but the Australian Cultivar Registration Authority considers them different and notes that both 'Poorinda Royal Carpet' and 'Poorinda Royal Mantle' have dark pink styles and both entire and lobed leaves, 'Austraflora Fanfare' only dusky pink styles and only lobed leaves that are wider than those the two Poorinda hybrids.In Australia this plant is generally listed just as 'Fanfare' but since it was originally introduced in the US market as 'Austraflora Fanfare' we have retained this name.
We grew this plant from 2002 to 2006 and only discontinued it because of production problems within our own nursery with no fault of the plant itself and we have long considered growing it again. Our original stock plant from the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum.
The information displayed on this page about Grevillea 'Austraflora Fanfare' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We 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.
|
