Leucadendron Amethyst

Leucadendron 'Amethyst' (Leucadendron salignum 'Amethyst') is grown for the deep wine red bracts that colour up through the cooler months and hold for weeks, on the plant and in a vase. It makes an upright rounded shrub about 1.2m tall and 1.2m wide, evergreen, with narrow blue green leaves the rest of the year. On a dry coastal block with sharp drainage it is one of the easiest plants you can grow.

Why you'll love it

• Wine red colour when little else is working. The bracts deepen through the cool season and last for weeks, and they cut well for the house.
• Coastal and salt tolerant. Sea wind and salt spray do not mark it, so it holds up on exposed foreshore gardens.
• Poor soil is an advantage. It evolved on lean sandy ground and looks better there than in a rich improved bed.
• Low maintenance and bird attracting. One trim a year keeps it dense, and birds work the flower heads.

Where it works best

Coastal gardens. Use it on the exposed side of a beach house, where the combination of sand, salt and wind rules out most flowering shrubs.

Mass planting. Plant 1m apart for a mass planting. A block of seven or nine reads as a sheet of colour in winter and stays neat and structural for the rest of the year.

Feature planting and pots. A single plant carries a bed on its own. In a pot 400mm or wider, use a free draining mix and never sit it in a saucer of water.

Growing Leucadendron Amethyst in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, all day, with air moving through the plant. It belongs in warm temperate, cool temperate and Mediterranean gardens. Humid subtropical and tropical summers cause dieback, so this is not a plant for the northern coast.

Soil. Excellent drainage is not optional. Sandy or gravelly ground is ideal; on clay, plant proud on a raised mound with coarse sand and grit through the bed. Never mulch hard against the stem.

Water and feed. Water weekly through the first summer to establish, then only in long dry spells. Feed with a low phosphorus native fertiliser or nothing at all. Standard garden and lawn fertilisers will damage the roots.

Pruning. Cut the flowering stems for the vase, which does the pruning for you. Otherwise trim about a third off after the bracts fade, staying in green growth. It reshoots poorly from bare wood.

What to expect when it arrives

Two sizes are sold: tube stock, and a 140mm pack of 10 for a mass planting. Tubes are young plants with a full root plug, and because leucadendrons dislike root disturbance they establish quickly and often catch larger plants inside a year. Expect colour in the second winter.

Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Get them into the ground promptly and water them in well, because the one thing they will not forgive is sitting wet in a punnet or a saucer. Every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Planning a coastal feature garden
• Browse coastal and salt tolerant plants
• Plants that thrive in poor soil
• Compare evergreen shrubs for structure

Common questions

When does it colour up?

Through autumn and winter, deepening to wine red and holding into spring. Full sun makes the difference; in shade the bracts stay green and dull.

Why did my last one suddenly die?

Almost always drainage or fertiliser. Leucadendrons collapse in wet soil and react badly to phosphorus, so a raised bed and a native feed solve most losses.

Can I grow it in Brisbane?

It is a stretch. Warm humid summer nights encourage root and stem rot, so northern gardeners should keep it in a pot of gritty mix under eaves rather than planting it out.