Gorgeous Grevilleas!

Today we are going to have a relaxing look at some Australian native plants, and in particular, Grevilleas.

Australian natives are generally drought hardy and easy to grow and many have unusual, striking flowers which last for many months of the year.

The flowers come in every shape and colour. They can be feathery, brush-like, spider-like, toothbrush-style, or beautifully curled. Some, like the Eucalypts (Gums), can be enormous trees, and some are tiny-leafed ground covers ……… and there is everything in between. In fact, Australia has some 24,000 species of native plants!

Some readers may be familiar with the Australian emblem, the Wattle, or perhaps the Bottlebrush (the Callistemon), the Banksia, Kangaroo Paw or Flowering Gums.

But today I’d like to concentrate on the Grevilleas (pronounced grev-ill-ee-ya). Grevillea is a diverse genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae.

They are among my favourite flowering plants, as I just love the artistry of their different shapes, sizes, colours and forms. They are also attract many types of native birds, such as parrots, honeyeaters and wattlebirds who go mad for the nectar they produce. Many of these birds have specially adapted beaks and even brushes on the end of their tongues to enable them to slurp up the maximum amount possible!

A lot of Australians have native plants in their gardens purely for the joy of watching the native birds feasting, twisting round, even hanging upside down, to extract every last skerrick !

We hope you enjoy the grevilleas and birds in the following AnArt4Life video, with images courtesy of the lifestyle programme, Better Homes and Gardens. ¹ You may care to notice the variety of the leaf shapes as well as the diversity of the flowers and the native birds ………..