Leucadendrons: A garden mainstay

I took a step back to assess my Leucadendron collection this week.  Commonly known as conebushes, these plants in the Proteaceae family are native to South Africa and generally adapt well to coastal Southern California's Mediterranean climate.  As it turns out, I published a post on the subject in 2018, which I'd forgotten about.  I've only added one plant within the last four years, bringing the current total to an even twenty shrubs.  However, my plants have grown a lot since 2018 and therefore have a greater presence in my garden.  In at least a few cases, they've gotten a bit out of hand but I'm putting off any serious pruning until cooler weather arrives in the fall.

There are seven Leucadendrons in my front garden.

This Wilson's Wonder' is one of the few plants that moved with me from my former tiny garden.  It was in a pot there but it exploded in size when planted in the ground.  Despite pruning twice a year, it's currently over 6 feet tall.  It's not allowed to spread as wide as it'd like here because my husband generally parks his truck in the driveway alongside it.

Since its last haircut in early spring, it's started flaunting its summer color

In winter it looks like this, sporting flower-like bracts surrounding a central cone

I've a total of 4 of the smaller 'Blush' variety shrubs.  This one sits next to the driveway.

'Safari Goldstrike' is supposed to be a "compact" variety growing 4-6 feet tall and wide.  This one is already at least 7 feet tall and leaning into some succulents below it.  It's on the list for pruning this fall.

This photo of its almost florescent early spring "flowers" was taken in 2018.  The plant's become too tall to get good photos of the flowers in recent years.

'Cloudbank Ginny' is my most recent introduction.  It's probably going to get too big for its spot and may have to move.  It has an interesting flower, which you can see here as I couldn't find any of my own photos to share.

My second 'Wilson's Wonder' sits in the middle of the front garden, placed deliberately to break up the view from one end of the area the other.  It gets more shade than the plant in the driveway area.  In the background on the right, you can see 'Safari Sunset', one of 2 in my garden.

'Safari Sunset' is paired here with 'Jubilee Crown' (left), which has a softer aspect than any of my other Leucadendrons

This closeup of 'Jubilee Crown's' foliage and cones was taken in May

There's only one Leucadendron in the south side garden, an area dominated by succulents

'Summer Red' is a more demure shrub, which grows just 3-4 feet in height

'Summer Red' looks very different in early January

The back garden has nine plants, some of which are grouped together.

'Safari Sunset' is paired with another 'Blush' shrub here

This trio consists of 'Jester', a variegated plant, flanked by 'Winter Red' on each side

'Pisa' is my tallest Leucadendron, effectively serving as a small tree.  It's said to lean in the wind, hence its name.

It glows in spring.  This photo was taken in May 2021.

This 'Jester', positioned under Arbutus 'Marina', doesn't develop the strong summer color shown by the shrub in full sun.  It also tends to have bare legs, hidden by the Pennisetum 'Fireworks' and Lobelia laxiflora planted in front of it.

Yet another 'Blush' sits alongside 'Jester'

I'm not positive which variety this is but I've previously identified it as 'Summer Red'.  It's also relatively small but, in the shade of another Arbutus 'Marina', it hasn't developed the reddish color of the specimen in the south side garden, at least not yet.

The remaining three plants occupy the north side garden.

This 'Blush', backlit and also in shady location, doesn't show the color that characterizes its sister plants

I did a poor job of positioning 'Ebony'.  Not only does it get a fair amount of shade but it's largely hidden by the plants surrounding it, which include Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite' in front, Grevillea sericea to its left, and Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' behind it.

Leucadendron 'Chief' so fills its space that it's hard to photograph.  I failed to prune it this spring when it finished flowering and I'm going to have a devil of a time whittling it down from its current height this fall.  This one is trying hard to reach its projected maximum height of 10 feet.

This closeup photo of its flower-like bracts was taken in January

As workhorses go, Leucadendron does a great job in my garden.  Thus far, all these plants are holding their own under our severe drought conditions.  I haven't tried one on my back slope, which gets relatively little water but, if we have a good rain year sometime in the future, I may give it a try there as well.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party