Why Grow Grevillea rhyolitica?
Grevillea rhyolitica is a fantastic Grevillea that I grew before in my last garden. It’s normally sold as Grevillea Deua Flame or just Deua Grevillea. The reason that I like it so much is that it grows fairly quickly and always seems to be covered in flowers.
The other great thing about this grevillea is that it might appeal to gardeners that aren’t normally attracted to grevilleas. It doesn’t have serrated leaves and its flowers are a bit more ornamental, so it’s a little bit different and could even be used in cottage type gardens.
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So because of the above reasons I decided to buy another one for my new garden. The first challenge for the plant will be to survive with the phosphorus in my soil. This to me is part of the experiment.
To start off with though, I’ve decided not to treat it with Powerfeed as I’d like to establish if it can tolerate the phosphorus without it.
If it does start to show the effects of phosphorus toxicity though I’ll then treat it with the Powerfeed and see if the Nitrogen can then turn it around.
How to Plant Grevillea rhyolitica
The first step when planting is to soak it in a bucket of water with Seasol and Multicrop Plant Starter. I do this to every plant that I plant and then place it into the hole to let the excess drain into the soil where it is about to be planted. It also wouldn’t hurt to also tip a bit more of this solution into the hole before the plant goes in, especially if it’s a hot day.
Soak in Seasol and Plant Starter. Before and after tip pruning.
The other thing that is probably worth mentioning here is that I’m planting it just as we’re coming into winter here in Melbourne. I know that most gardeners recommend planting in spring and autumn but really I don’t think it matters.
I’ve planted plants in the middle of summer and watered them just as you would the plants that I’d planted in the spring. They don’t have any trouble surviving. I think that the distinction here is that I’m talking about tough drought tolerant plants because that’s what I grow.
Pruning Grevillea Deua Flame
When I grew a Grevillea rhyolitica in my last garden, it grew very quickly and because it was always covered in flowers, it never really got pruned as often as it should have. With this one though I’ve decided to tip prune it right from the start.
This will make it grow a lot bushier and more compact. You will also notice that where I’ve planted it there is also probably not enough room so I will have to prune it regularly so that it doesn’t get too large.
Source: Granton Plants
Also worth mentioning here is that when I bought this plant, there were others to select from that were actually flowering. I selected this one because it had the best root system and as a consequence, I’ve thrown away the little garden stake it came with.
It’s roots are supporting it quite nicely. Also another thing about tip pruning it after planting is that it’s not as top heavy and it gives the roots more of a chance to support the plant in strong winds if required.
Anyway that’s it for now, a work in progress. I’ll come back to this again in the spring and we’ll see how it’s going. In the meantime if you come across Grevillea rhyolitica in a nursery, buy it and let me know how it goes.