Lantern Banksia

Lantern Banksia (Banksia ericifolia) is the banksia to plant if you want honeyeaters in the garden through winter. It grows to about 3.5m tall and 2.5m wide in a home garden, forming a dense shrub of fine needle foliage, and carries upright orange to red flower spikes up to 20cm long. It reaches 6m in its native heathland, but garden plants settle at 3m to 4m.

Why you'll love it

• Winter flowers that feed birds. The spikes open in the cold months when nectar is scarce, and honeyeaters and wattlebirds work them daily.
• Fine textured and dense. The needle foliage is soft looking and packed tightly, so a plant screens far better than a large leafed shrub of the same size.
• Thrives on poor ground. Sandy, gravelly, low fertility soils suit it. This is a plant that prefers the ground most gardeners try to improve.
• Coastal and exposed site tolerance. Salt tolerant, wind tolerant, drought tolerant and frost hardy, a rare combination in a flowering shrub this size.

Where it works best

Informal screening and privacy. Plant 1.5m apart. At that spacing the plants meet without crowding, giving a soft informal barrier rather than a clipped hedge line.

Coastal gardens and windbreaks. A staggered double row at 1.5m spacing filters salt laden wind instead of blocking it, which is what an exposed coastal block needs.

Feature and mass planting. A single plant works as a specimen where the spikes can be seen close up. In a native bed, groups of five or more at 1.5m read as one mass.

Growing lantern banksia in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, with good air movement around the plant. It suits subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate and Mediterranean gardens and is frost hardy once established, so cold southern winters are no obstacle. Consistently wet tropical conditions are.

Soil. Sandy, gravelly and free draining, ideally slightly acidic. Do not enrich the bed with manure or compost, which is the usual mistake. On heavy clay, plant on a raised mound, because root rot in wet soil kills more banksias than anything else.

Water and feed. Water weekly through the first summer, then rely on rainfall except in a long drought. Feeding is usually unnecessary, and if you do feed, use only a low phosphorus native fertiliser, because banksias are phosphorus sensitive.

Pruning. Trim lightly after flowering, staying within the green foliage. Banksias are slow to reshoot from bare old wood, so never cut into leafless stems or remove more than about a third at once.

What to expect when it arrives

Lantern banksia is grown in four sizes: 140mm pots in packs of ten, 200mm in packs of six, 250mm in packs of three, and single 300mm pots. The 140mm and 200mm plants are young and the sensible choice for a screen where numbers matter. The 250mm and 300mm sizes are more established and give a head start in a feature position.

The fine foliage travels well and any dry tips on arrival grow out quickly. This is a slow to moderate grower, so expect the first year to go into roots, with first flowering typically in the second or third year. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and a minimum order of $300 before delivery, under our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Native plants that bring birds into the garden
• Browse the full banksia range
• Compare Australian native shrubs
• Plants that handle coastal conditions

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it for a screen?

One and a half metres apart. Each plant reaches about 2.5m wide, so that spacing gives an overlapping informal screen while leaving enough airflow to keep fungal problems away.

Why do banksias die suddenly?

Usually root rot from wet soil, or phosphorus toxicity from ordinary garden fertiliser. Plant on a free draining mound, avoid enriched soil, and use only low phosphorus native fertiliser.

Can I prune it into a hedge?

It can be kept tidy with light annual trims, but it will not take the hard clipping a formal hedge needs. Cut into bare old wood and the stem often does not reshoot.