Grevillea
Grevillea (lat. Grevillea) is an incredibly beautiful plant belonging to the Proteaceae family.
Description
Grevillea is an amazingly beautiful evergreen decorative deciduous flowering plant. The number of its species is so diverse (there are as many as 362 species in the genus!) that in nature you can find both small creeping shrubs up to half a meter in height and huge trees thirty-five meters in height.
Grevillea leaves can be either stalkless or stalked, simple, serrated or smooth, and the veining of these leaves can vary from parallel to reticulate.
Grevillea fruits have the form of curved leaflets, which are most often leathery, but sometimes woody leaflets are also found. And the flat seeds of this plant can be either completely wingless or equipped with small narrow wings.
Where does it grow
This plant is especially widespread in New Caledonia, New Guinea, Australia and the picturesque Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Grevillea feels especially good on fertile soils in subtropical rain forests.
Usage
Currently, grevillea is used mainly for decorative purposes — the exquisite beauty of its luxurious spike-shaped inflorescences makes it very popular. And the flowers of some varieties of grevillea were very readily eaten by the aborigines — the fact is that they contain a pleasant sweet nectar.
Growing and care
Grevillea will delight you with its excellent growth on any windows, with the exception of southern ones — in the latter case, more than ever, it needs protection from direct rays of the sun. It is best to grow this plant in rooms that are not characterized by particularly high winter temperatures — in winter it is recommended to keep this beauty at a temperature between fourteen and sixteen degrees.
Despite the fact that when hot weather sets in, grevillea does not tolerate direct rays of the sun at all, lack of lighting is also detrimental for it, as it can lead to etiolation. So it is best to provide this plant with diffused, but at the same time quite intense lighting.
To plant grevillea, you can safely take ready-made soil, specially designed for planting decorative foliage plants. Ideally, it should also contain a small amount of charcoal or bone meal. And the most important thing is to have good drainage!
From spring to fall, when the grevillea enters its active growing season, it requires ample watering, but this plant should be watered moderately (approximately every three days). During the winter, watering should always be reduced. Misting is not essential; however, grevillea responds very favorably to it, so it”s worth treating it with a little misting from time to time. Occasionally, the lucky owners of this beautiful plant experience wilting of its leaves—usually due to a lack of moisture, so the situation is solvable.
During the summer, the plant can be fed with high-quality mineral fertilizers, but it”s best to avoid fertilizing in winter. Furthermore, grevillea should be pruned annually, and pruned back quite severely, and ideally, repotted annually!
Grevillea propagates primarily by seed. Occasionally, this plant may be attacked by spider mites, so it is recommended to inspect it periodically for damage by these pests.
