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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.
This information about Grevillea 'Austraflora Fanfare' 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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