Grevillea Pink Pearl

Grevillea 'Pink Pearl' (Grevillea 'Pink Pearl') is an Australian bred hybrid that gives you a fast, tough, bird filled screen without asking much in return. It grows to roughly 2.5m tall and 2.5m wide, carrying soft pink flowers through most of the year on a plant that takes drought, salt wind and poor soil in its stride.

Why you'll love it

• Birds arrive within a season. The nectar rich flowers pull in honeyeaters and lorikeets, and bees and butterflies work them as well.
• Fast to fill a gap. One of the quicker natives to close a boundary, so a bare fence fills in over two to three seasons.
• Genuinely low water. Once the roots are down it is drought tolerant and copes with poor, gravelly ground that defeats most shrubs.
• Built for exposed blocks. Salt tolerant enough for a seaside garden, and happy in full sun and heat.

Where it works best

Screening and hedging. Plant 1.5m apart in a single row for a dense informal screen. It is not a clipped formal hedge plant, but a light trim after each flush keeps it thick.

Coastal gardens. Salt and wind tolerance make it a front line shrub on exposed blocks where camellias and buxus scorch.

Mass planting. On a bank or a wide verge, plant 1.5m apart in a staggered grid for continuous colour and almost no ongoing work.

Growing Grevillea Pink Pearl in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, always. Shade makes it leggy and cuts flowering hard. It suits subtropical, warm temperate, Mediterranean and arid or semi-arid gardens, and handles light frost only, so cold inland and tableland gardens need a sheltered warm position or a hardier native.

Soil. Drainage matters far more than fertility. Sandy, gravelly and poor soils are ideal. On clay, mound the bed 300mm and skip heavy compost, which holds water around the collar.

Water and feed. Water weekly through the first summer, then only in long dry spells. Feed with a low phosphorus native fertiliser in early spring, since standard garden fertilisers can damage grevillea roots.

Pruning. Tip prune from the day you plant. After each main flowering flush, cut back about a third of the new growth. This is what keeps it dense rather than woody and open at the base.

What to expect when it arrives

It comes in two sizes: tube stock, and 140mm plants in packs of ten. Tubes are young single stemmed plants and the value choice for a long boundary, since grevilleas establish so fast that a bigger pot's head start is gone by the second year. The 140mm packs give a larger, better branched plant for the same job.

Plants are packed upright and delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Expect little visible change for the first month, then rapid top growth once warm weather arrives. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Read the full grevillea care guide for pruning and feeding detail.
• Compare varieties in our grevillea collection.
• Browse other bird attracting plants to extend the flowering season.
• See what else suits an exposed site in coastal and salt tolerant plants.

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it for a screen?

One and a half metres apart in a single row. That gives each plant room to reach its full 2.5m width without the lower branches shading each other into bare wood.

Why do grevilleas go woody at the base?

Almost always a pruning problem. They do not reliably reshoot from bare old wood, so they need light trimming from young. Cut back a third of the new growth after each flush and it stays furnished.

Can I use normal fertiliser on it?

No. Grevilleas are sensitive to phosphorus and standard fertilisers can burn the roots. Use a native specific low phosphorus product, once in early spring.

Will it grow in a pot?

Yes, in a container 500mm or wider with free draining mix, though it stays smaller and needs closer attention to watering. In the ground is where it performs.