I have just had the first flowering of a seed grown plant of Banksia coccinea. It is about 4 years old and 1.5 metres high now with several flowering stems branching from low down on the main stem. It is a fairly light red at this first flowering but will hopefully darken up and get more intense as it gets older and the plant gets bigger – as I have noticed this happen with other Banksias growing here.<\/p>\n
The flower starts out a furry bud with a fairly dull blue\/purple tinge and then the distinct stripes develop as the stamens pop open.<\/p>\n
It is a tricky West Australian Banksia to grow and keep healthy in a cool climate like we have here in the Blue Mountains, but it seems ok so far growing on a raised gravel bed surrounded by large river stones to attract and reflect heat. The bed has a good western exposure and collects sun and heat for most of the year. It also seems to like the protection and environment given by the surrounding plants such as Xanthorrhoea<\/a>, Dianella<\/a>,\u00a0Lomandra<\/a>\u00a0and other grass like plants growing around it.<\/p>\n Nectar eating birds seem to like visiting it now in mid winter.<\/p>\n We have had the warmest Mid Winter July on record for 150 years in Eastern Australia so i’m guessing this may have contributed to the fast flower development. We had a cold snap with a touch or waft of snow in mid June but this does not seem to have affected the flowering at all.<\/p>\n https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Banksia_coccinea<\/a><\/p>\n
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