Grevillea Poorinda Anticipation

Grevillea 'Poorinda Anticipation' (Grevillea 'Poorinda Anticipation') is the native screening shrub for gardens that want birds as well as privacy. It grows quickly to about 2.5m tall and 2.5m wide, holds fine dark green foliage down to the ground and carries red spider flowers through most of the year. It closes into a dense informal screen in two seasons on poor soil and little water.

Why you'll love it

• Flowers for most of the year. Repeated flushes rather than one short burst, heaviest through winter and spring when little else is out.
• Honeyeaters find it quickly. The nectar draws small honeyeaters and native bees, and the dense twiggy interior gives them safe perching.
• Tough where it counts. Frost hardy, drought tolerant, wind tolerant and unbothered by poor soil.
• Screening without a hard edge. It reads as an informal hedge rather than a clipped wall, suiting a cottage garden as readily as a boundary line.

Where it works best

Screening and privacy. Plant 1.5m apart in a single row. The canopies knit by the second season.

Hedging. It can be held at 1.5m to 2m with two cuts a year, though it looks best keeping some of its natural shape.

Mass planting. Groups of three or five cover a bank quickly and hold soil while they do it.

Growing Grevillea 'Poorinda Anticipation' in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun for the heaviest flowering and densest growth. It suits warm temperate, cool temperate, subtropical and Mediterranean gardens and is frost hardy once established, though young plants want some protection through their first winter. The wet tropics are the exception, since constant humidity and heavy summer rain encourage root problems.

Soil. Drainage cannot be negotiated. It is happy in poor, gravelly or sandy ground but will not accept wet feet. On clay, plant on a mound 300mm high and work coarse material through the bed.

Water and feed. Water deeply once a week through the first summer, then only in extended dry spells. Use a low phosphorus native fertiliser once in early spring; standard garden fertilisers are high in phosphorus and will slowly kill it.

Pruning. Tip prune lightly after each flowering flush, taking no more than a third of the growth. Regular light trimming from the first year is what keeps the base furnished.

What to expect when it arrives

It comes as tube stock and as 140mm plants in packs of ten. Tubes are young single stemmed plants and the sensible choice for a long boundary, since a tube usually catches a larger plant within two seasons. The 140mm pack gives a head start on a screen.

Plants are packed upright and delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Expect a quiet month while the roots go down, then rapid growth through the first warm season. Every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• The complete grevillea care guide.
• Compare varieties across the grevillea range.
• Other hedging and screening plants.
• Bird attracting natives for Australian gardens.

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it for a screen?

1.5m apart in a single row. Closer planting does not close the gap any faster, and it thins the base as the shrubs shade each other out.

How fast does it grow?

Quickly. In a sunny, well drained position expect around 1.5m in the first two years, then slower as it approaches its mature 2.5m.

Can I cut it back hard?

No. Grevilleas rarely reshoot from bare old wood, so a hard cut back often leaves dead stumps. Trim lightly and often instead.