Written and edited by Tammy 23nd February 2023
What a dazzler! The Carnival Red Pincushion Leucospermum hybrid. The vibrance is absolutely breath taking.
Leucospermums are in the protea family, native to South Africa. A compact prolific flowering evergreen shrub that reaches around 1 to 1.5 meters high by equally as wide.
They prefer an acidic, sandy to sandy loam free draining soil, and a full sun aspect.
Once established their water requirements are low, and like our Australian natives they're sensitive to Phosphorus. Incorporating some aged animal manure or organic matter with your soil when planting them will be adequate nutrition initially and, down the track with subsequent feeds after flowering, make sure you use a native plant food as they are low in phosphorus.
There's nothing much to pruning them, just routine deadheading to encourage more flowers, and just shaping the plant to your liking.
Bring a few longer stemmed blooms inside for a vase, they make for beautiful long lasting cut flowers too.
If you're limited for space, or you're a renter and planting one in the garden is not an option, don't despair, there's nothing wrong with growing one in a showy glazed pot. The advantage of that too is being in control of the soil and environment it's going into and, you can move it around to a different location in your yard.
So there you have it, there's no excuse and no reason for you not to add a Leucospermum Pincushion to your wish list today.
I hope you're keeping cool in this heat, don't forget to leave some accessible water out for the birds, bees and lizards too.
Happy Gardening!đđ¸âď¸
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