Leucadendron ‘Gold Strike’

Leucadendron 'Gold Strike' (Leucadendron 'Gold Strike') holds bright golden bracts through winter and spring, when very little else in an Australian garden is doing anything. It builds an upright shrub about 2m tall and 1.5m wide, with narrow blue green leaves that turn gold at the tips before the whole head of the stem colours up. It is drought hardy, salt tolerant and built for exposed windy sites.

Why you'll love it

• Colour in the cold months. The golden bracts hold from winter through spring, filling the gap when the rest of the garden is resting.
• Stems worth cutting. Long straight stems last well in a vase, so a few plants at the back of a bed become a cutting patch.
• Made for hard exposed sites. Salt tolerant, wind tolerant, drought tolerant and content in poor soil, so a windy coastal front garden suits it.
• Upright and low maintenance. At 2m by 1.5m it gives height without sprawling, and once established it needs no watering in a normal season.

Where it works best

Feature planting. A single plant carries a bed on its own through winter. Set it where morning light comes through the bracts and the effect doubles.

Coastal and windy gardens. Exposed front gardens, sloping sandy sites and windswept corners all suit it, and it copes with salt laden air that scorches softer shrubs.

Mass planting and pots. Planted 1m apart it makes a strong massed display along a driveway or fence line. In a pot 500mm or wider it works on a sunny terrace.

Growing Leucadendron 'Gold Strike' in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, all day. This is a plant for warm temperate, cool temperate and Mediterranean gardens, and it takes light frost only, so hard frosting inland districts are marginal. It dislikes humid summers, which rules out the wet tropics and the humid subtropics.

Soil. Sharp drainage is not negotiable. Sandy, gravelly, poor and slightly acidic ground is ideal. On clay, plant proud on a raised mound with coarse sand through it, because root rot in wet soil kills nearly every leucadendron that fails.

Water and feed. Water weekly through the first summer only, then leave it alone except in a long drought. Never use a standard garden fertiliser: phosphorus is toxic to this family.

Pruning. Cut the flowering stems back by about a third once the bracts finish in spring. That single annual prune keeps the shrub compact and produces next season's stems. Do not cut into old bare wood.

What to expect when it arrives

It is grown in three sizes: tube stock, 140mm in packs of ten, and 200mm in packs of six. Tube stock is the value choice for a mass planting, taking two to three years to colour up properly. The 140mm and 200mm plants are branched and usually give their first good display in the second season.

The stiff foliage handles transit well. Get the drainage right at planting time, because that decision matters more than anything you do afterwards. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, and every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Planning a coastal feature garden
• Browse salt tolerant plants for exposed sites
• Compare drought tolerant plants
• Plants that hold up well in containers

Common questions

Why did my leucadendron suddenly die?

Almost always root rot from soil that held water, and it shows as a plant that looks fine one week and collapses the next. Sharp drainage, a raised mound on clay and restraint with the hose prevent it.

What fertiliser should I use?

A low phosphorus native fertiliser applied lightly in early spring, or nothing at all. Ordinary garden and lawn fertilisers contain enough phosphorus to poison plants in this family, and the damage is often fatal.

Can I grow it in a humid subtropical garden?

It is not the right climate. Warm temperate, cool temperate and Mediterranean gardens suit it, while humid summers encourage fungal problems and shorten its life considerably.