Banksia ‘Giant Candles’

Banksia 'Giant Candles' is the native shrub to plant when you want honeyeaters in the garden and a boundary that looks after itself. A hybrid of Banksia ericifolia and Banksia spinulosa, it reaches about 4m tall and 3m wide, carrying upright orange flower spikes up to 40cm long through the cooler months. It shrugs off wind, salt, dry spells and poor sandy soil.

Why you'll love it

• Flower spikes you can see from the footpath. The orange candles reach 40cm, well beyond what most banksias manage, and they hold on the bush for weeks.
• Serious bird value. Honeyeaters work the spikes daily through autumn and winter, when little else in the garden is flowering.
• Built for hard sites. Frost hardy, drought tolerant, salt tolerant and genuinely happy in poor soil, so exposed and sandy blocks suit it.
• Screening without a hedge trimmer. At roughly 4m by 3m it fills a boundary as a dense informal screen rather than a clipped hedge, and a tidy up after flowering is the whole maintenance job.

Where it works best

Informal screening and windbreaks. Plant 2m apart for a tall informal screen. A staggered double row at the same spacing filters wind rather than forcing it over the top.

Coastal gardens. Salt and wind tolerance let it sit in the front line on a coastal boundary where softer natives brown off.

Feature and mass planting. A single plant reads as a strong feature against a fence. In a larger native bed, group three or more at 2m centres for a block of winter colour.

Growing Banksia 'Giant Candles' in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun all day gives the heaviest flowering. It suits subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate and Mediterranean gardens, and takes frost once established. It is not the pick for the wet tropics, where constant humidity and summer rain work against its need for sharp drainage.

Soil. Drainage matters far more than fertility, and sandy or gravelly ground is ideal. On heavy clay, plant on a raised mound rather than in a hole that holds water. Mulch 75mm deep, clear of the stem.

Water and feed. Deep soak weekly through the first summer, then step back. Established plants rarely need water outside a long dry spell. Feed only with a low phosphorus native fertiliser in early spring, because standard garden feeds and manures will damage the roots.

Pruning. Tip prune young plants to build density, then cut spent spikes back into leafy growth. One honest limitation: banksias do not reliably reshoot from bare old wood, so never cut past the leaves.

What to expect when it arrives

We grow it in tube, 140mm in a pack of 10, 200mm in a pack of 6 and 300mm. Tube and 140mm plants are young, single stemmed and knee high or less, the value choice for a long boundary because banksias establish quickly from small stock. The 200mm and 300mm plants arrive branched.

Plants travel upright and are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Expect little growth for the first month, then a strong flush in the first warm season. First flowering usually comes in year two or three from tube stock. Every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Read our complete banksia care guide.
• Compare varieties in the banksia collection.
• Browse more bird attracting plants.
• See the range of coastal and salt tolerant plants.

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it for a screen?

Two metres apart in a single row. Any closer and the lower branches shade each other out, which thins the base exactly where you want cover.

When does it flower?

Mainly through autumn and winter, with spikes opening in succession rather than all at once. That timing is the point of the plant, because it feeds honeyeaters in the leanest months.

Why is the foliage turning yellow?

Almost always phosphorus. Banksias evolved on very low phosphorus soils, so ordinary fertiliser and manures scorch the roots. Switch to a native specific low phosphorus feed.