Grevillea ‘Bon Accord’

Grevillea 'Bon Accord' (Grevillea 'Bon Accord') is a medium Australian native shrub that flowers hard and brings honeyeaters into the garden. It reaches about 2.5m tall and 2.5m wide, a rounded, well furnished bush carrying pink and cream flowers through much of the year. Drought tolerant, heat tolerant and content in poor soil, it is a genuinely low input plant.

Why you'll love it

• Birds come to it. The nectar rich pink and cream flowers pull in honeyeaters and other small nectar feeders reliably.
• A long flowering season. Grevilleas of this type carry flowers over many months rather than in one short burst.
• Dry, hot and poor soil are fine. Drought tolerant, heat tolerant and poor soil tolerant, so it suits blocks that defeat thirstier shrubs.
• A useful size. At roughly 2.5m by 2.5m it fills a corner or forms an informal screen without ever becoming a tree, feeding bees and butterflies as well as birds.

Where it works best

Screening and privacy. Plant 1.5m apart for an informal screen. This is not a clipped hedge plant, so expect a soft, billowing wall rather than a flat face.

Feature planting. A single plant near a window or a path gives you a front row seat when the birds arrive.

Mass planting. On a larger block or a verge, groups at 1.5m spacing give a native planting that needs little more than an annual prune.

Growing Grevillea Bon Accord in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun. Shade produces leggy growth and few flowers. It suits subtropical, warm temperate, Mediterranean and arid gardens, and it takes light frost only, so hard frosting inland and cold southern districts are marginal without shelter.

Soil. Free draining soil is the single most important thing. Grevilleas fail in wet, heavy ground more often than from any other cause, so on clay plant on a raised mound with coarse sand or gravel through the bed. Poor and sandy soils are ideal.

Water and feed. Water weekly through the first summer, then only in long dry spells. Use a low phosphorus native fertiliser in early spring, because standard garden fertilisers hold enough phosphorus to damage grevillea roots.

Pruning. Tip prune from the day it goes in, then give a light all over trim after each main flush of flowers. Regular light pruning keeps it dense. Leaving it for years produces a woody, open shrub that does not recover well from a hard cut.

What to expect when it arrives

It is offered in tubestock, currently on backorder, so allow extra time when you order. Tubes are small, usually 15 to 25cm of growth on a young root system, and for grevilleas that is genuinely the best way to start. A tube planted into free draining soil roots down faster than a larger pot, and often overtakes an advanced plant put in at the same time.

Expect a quiet first few months while the roots go down, then rapid growth from the first spring, and the first real flowering in the second year. Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, under our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Bird attracting native plants
• Browse the grevillea range
• Other Australian native shrubs
• More bird attracting plants

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it for a screen?

One and a half metres apart. At that spacing plants knit into a soft informal screen without competing, and each keeps enough light to stay furnished at the base.

Why do grevilleas die in some gardens?

Almost always wet feet or phosphorus. Give it sharp drainage, plant on a mound in clay, and use only a low phosphorus native fertiliser, and it becomes an easy plant.

Can I prune it into a formal hedge?

Not really. It responds well to light regular trimming, but a tight formal face is not its habit, and hard cuts into bare old wood often do not reshoot. Plan for an informal screen.

Is tubestock too small to bother with?

No. Small plants build deep roots quickly, and within two years they usually match or beat plants started from larger pots.