Leucadendron Love

Leucadendron Love

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Leucadendron Red Gem

It's this time of year that I fall in love with Leucadendrons all over again.  Not that I ever really fall out of love with them.  Its just that as autumn deepens, their new growth matures and their colours really pop.  Maybe I forget over the summer, just how sparkly they can be.

Front: L. Safari Goldstrike,  Middle: L. Jubilee Crown,  Back: L. Safari Sunset

In the foreground, the Leucadendron Safari Goldstrike are still in their growth phase, and too droopy to pick.  But that startling red in the back row is the Safari Sunset, showing off one of the reasons why it's the most widely grown leucadendron.

Front: Leucadendron Maui Sunset, Backgrounds L. Tall Red

Everywhere I look in mid autumn there are leucadendrons showing off.  Some of the Maui Sunsets have just set their flower heads and others are still growing.  Their colour is dusky but fresh.  Behind them is the glow of Leucadendron Tall Red.

Leucadendron Tall Red

The Tall Red are such a great filler.  

Leucadendron Inca Gold

Inca Gold are a fabulous yellow winter flowering Leuco.   Most of their growth has happened by this time of the year and the winter weather brings the colour.  They can be picked green, and often have a bronzy orange tinge as the you get towards the red tips.   

Leucadendron Safari Sunset

Picking Leucos is a pleasure.  It's one of my favourite jobs on the farm.  There's always a feeling of satisfaction at this time of year when they're a fabulous colour, and great length.  

Leucadendron Safari Sunset

And there are also moments when I gasp, and have to whip out the camera to capture the light and colour.

Safari Sunset at Sunset

I love Leucadendrons!

Winter Colour

Winter Colour

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There is such an explosion of colour on the farm at this time of year.  As the weather gets colder, the colours seem to get brighter.  "Natives" are such great winter flowers with a surprising variety of colours and textures.

Leucadendrons change colour as they come into "flower" which is often over winter and spring.  While some are a rich deep maroon or red throughout the rest of the year, in winter they change colours.  Safari Sunset lives up to its name and changes to a vivid pink with creamy yellow inside.  And Red Gem, one of my favourites, changes from maroon to a buttery yellow with peachy tones.  I just love it!

Red Gem in July

Front - Safari Sunset, Middle Right - Red Gem, Back Left - Inca Gold

Other Leucadednrons that are green for most of the year, start to "glow" yellow.  Inca gold has a rich yellow colour highlighted with red tips.  I'm still looking forward to the Leucadendon Gandogerii and Goldstrike - fabulous spring yellows.

Inca Gold

There's so much gorgeous texture about too.

I love playing with colours and textures at this time of the year.  

It's heartening, on cold wintery days to be playing with such cheery colours too.

And there has been some cold weather lately - snow and hail and bitter winds.  

When you're out in the fields picking in the wind and the rain, with tingling cheeks and numb fingers, what keeps you going are the gorgeous colours that are filling the basket.

Winter is so pretty!

Cheery Winter Colour

Cheery Winter Colour

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Winter can be a little dreary, especially when you get days and days of rain.  In Tasmania, the sun rises late and sets early, and tracks lower across the sky than in summer.   Sunshine is sometimes scarce.  But  just as winter is really setting in, there are a number of plants that begin to bloom in that sunshine yellow that you really crave on a grey day.  The daffodils and jonquils start to pop up, and the masses of wattle brighten up the landscape.  Leucadendrons are wonderfully colourful in winter too.  Inca Gold are a well known hybrid that have been grown commercially for many years.  As the weather gets colder, they get brighter, until the yellow becomes almost creamy.   They glow on a grey day, seeming to promise that warmer weather is coming.

These Inca Gold are fabulous in a seasonal bunch.  Their colour coincides with the flowering of Safari Sunset which, whilst beautifully rich red at other times of the year, turn pink and cream with central cones covered in yellow pollen.  It's such a pretty and cheery midwinter colour combination.

These bunches of mid-winter cheer are off to a local shop, ready to bring some sunshine to someone's grey day!

The Black Fringe

The Black Fringe

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There are hundreds of species of Protea - and so many more when you add the lovely hybrids.  One of the most well-known traits of a Protea flower is the fringing.  At Swallows Nest Farm, we grow a small number of bushes of this lovely Protea Neriifolia, which as you can see, has a spectacular black fringe.  This pink variety reminds me of a 1950s party dress, with its bright colouring and black trim.  The Neriifolia flowers over a long period of the year, and at the moment is producing some beautiful flowers on lovely long stems.  I have had fun photographing these beauties, trying to capture their shape, colour and texture.

This is a close up of an immature flower, showing the "hairy" fringe beginning to turn black.

This photo captures a whole flower bud.  You can see that the fringing is white at this stage.  The black develops as the flower reaches maturity.

In this picture, you can see the difference between the Protea Neriifolia, and the hybrid that is the staple of the cut flower industry, the Protea Pink Ice.  The shape, arrangement of petals and black fringing are immediately apparent.  The centre mound of flower spikes differ in colour too.  

At this time of year, the pink of the proteas looks spectacular with the yellow Inca Gold Leucadendrons, and the dainty pink and white Thryptomene.  

The Protea Neriifolia are a stunning addition to a bouquet.  I really love them! 

Inca Gold

Inca Gold

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One of the leucadendrons that begins to "sparkle" at this time of the year is one called Inca Gold.  For most of the year it is a limey green with little red tips but in winter, after the solstice here in southern Tasmania, it starts to turn bright yellow.  

This picture was taken in May.  The flower heads had formed but were still slim, with more growth to come.  It's pretty at this stage with its pink stems and tiny red tips, but not spectacular.  It's good for filler in a bouquet of cut flowers.

This photo was taken mid June.  The flower heads look more plump and the stem length is good, but they are still lime green.

The Inca Gold begin to change around the beginning of July and make a fabulous contrast with the Safari Sunset Leucos.

When they reach their brightest, its easy to see why they are a winter favourite in the cut flower trade.  Spectacular cheery colour and long lasting blooms make these Inca Gold worth waiting for.