{"title":"Banksias","description":"\u003cp\u003eBanksias do two separate jobs in an Australian garden. The shrubby species give you a nectar source through autumn and winter, when honeyeaters and lorikeets have the least else to work with, and they hold their shape in poor sandy ground without irrigation. The tree species give structure: knotted trunks, saw-toothed leaves and woody cones that stay on the plant for years. Buy them if you garden on sand, gravel or a well-drained slope, if you are on a coastal block dealing with salt wind, or if you want a native planting with real form rather than a soft green mass. Think twice if your soil stays wet through winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTake the shrubs first. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-spinulosa\"\u003eHairpin Banksia\u003c\/a\u003e is the compact, rounded one, fine-leaved with gold and rust spikes held inside the bush, and it reshoots from a lignotuber after a hard cut. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-ericifolia\"\u003eHeath Banksia\u003c\/a\u003e is taller and much denser, with tiny heath-like foliage, so it is the one to reach for when you want a clipped native screen rather than a specimen. Silver Banksia, Banksia marginata, is the cold-tolerant choice, silver-backed leaves and short lemon spikes, and it suits southern and tablelands gardens that frost. At the tree end, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-serrata\"\u003eOld Man Banksia\u003c\/a\u003e is slow and sculptural, with grey corky bark, and it is worth placing as a single feature rather than in a row. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-integrifolia\"\u003eCoast Banksia\u003c\/a\u003e is the fast, forgiving one that copes with salt wind and sand, and it carries the widest size range here, 75mm tubes through to 600L, so you can plant a windbreak from starters or buy height. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-integrifolia-sentinel\"\u003eSentinel\u003c\/a\u003e is the narrow upright selection of that same species, sized 250mm to 330mm, for driveways and side boundaries. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-prionotes-dwarf\"\u003eAcorn Banksia Dwarf\u003c\/a\u003e keeps the orange acorn-shaped flower spikes of the West Australian species on a courtyard-sized plant, in 130mm and 140mm pots. Like the species it comes from, it wants deep sand and a dry summer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSharp drainage and full sun decide whether one of these lives. Plant high, on a raised mound if you are on clay, and mulch with coarse gravel or chunky bark kept clear of the trunk. Water weekly through the first summer, then taper off, because established plants want very little. What kills banksias in a home garden is rarely drought or frost. It is phosphorus. As Proteaceae, they carry dense proteoid root mats that take up phosphorus so efficiently that a normal dose of blood and bone, poultry manure, lawn food or general-purpose fertiliser builds to toxic levels. You get blackened leaf tips, yellowing between the veins, then sudden collapse, often months after the feeding, which is why the cause usually goes unnoticed. Use a low-phosphorus native formulation or feed nothing at all, and never plant one into a bed you fertilise for roses or vegetables. Prune lightly after flowering, into green growth, as most species will not reshoot from bare old wood.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe same soil and light suit \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/grevillea\"\u003egrevilleas\u003c\/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/bottlebrush\"\u003ebottlebrushes\u003c\/a\u003e, and both flower in the gaps between banksia seasons. Browse the wider \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/natives\"\u003enatives\u003c\/a\u003e range for companion planting, or \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/low-maintenance\"\u003elow-maintenance\u003c\/a\u003e for other plants that get by on rainfall once settled. Every order ships farm-direct with flat $99 delivery across QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, ACT and WA, a $399 minimum order, and the 30-Day Healthy Plant Guarantee.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"pd-hub-guide\"\u003eNew to these plants? Read our guide: \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/growing-banksias-and-native-proteaceae\"\u003eGrowing banksias: phosphorus and drainage\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"banksia-attenuata","title":"Candlestick Banksia - Banksia attenuata","description":"\u003cp\u003eAcross the deep white sands north and south of Perth, candlestick banksia is the open-crowned, slightly ragged tree standing above the heath. The name comes from the flowers: bright yellow cylinders held upright at the ends of the branches through the warmer months, well clear of the narrow toothed foliage. Older plants develop a crooked trunk and rough grey bark, carrying woody follicles for years after flowering.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHoneyeaters work the spikes hard, and in a dry native garden in full sun it is one of the better nectar plants. Once settled in it asks for very little water.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSoil is the catch. This is a sand species that resents heavy ground, summer irrigation and eastern seaboard humidity, where Phytophthora root rot is the usual cause of a sudden death with no warning. Plant it high in a mound of coarse sandy mix, keep phosphorus fertiliser well away, and resist watering it through its second summer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe ship to QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, ACT and WA at a flat $99, with a $399 minimum order.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 2 sizes, from 140mm up to 5L, priced from $16.95 to $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64308364444017,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"5L","offer_id":64308364476785,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/sU_o3LlO2mGAuTYe2Zcn_yZ0CqPx9.jpg?v=1787627183"},{"product_id":"banksia-integrifolia-sentinel","title":"Coast Banksia - Banksia integrifolia Sentinel","description":"\u003cp\u003eSentinel is the narrow selection of coast banksia, chosen for an upright, columnar habit that suits driveways, side boundaries and verges where the wild form spreads too wide. The leaves give the species away: dark green above, silver-white beneath, so the whole canopy flickers in wind. Lemon to greenish-yellow candles appear mainly through autumn and winter, when little else is feeding honeyeaters and possums.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOf all the banksias, this is the forgiving one. It handles salt-laden wind, thin sandy soil, coastal exposure and east-coast humidity far better than the Western Australian species, and it will sit on clay provided the site drains.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo things worth knowing. Narrow does not mean small, so allow for a proper tree trunk at the base even though the crown stays tight. And keep high-phosphorus lawn fertiliser away from the root zone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStock runs from 250mm and 300mm pots up to 90 litre advanced trees for instant screening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 250mm up to 330mm, priced from $59.95 to $149.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These mid-range sizes balance establishment speed against immediate presence, and they are the usual choice for general garden planting. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64308369752433,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"330mm","offer_id":64308369785201,"sku":null,"price":149.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64308369817969,"sku":null,"price":129.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"90L","offer_id":64446145200497,"sku":null,"price":649.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/Qs4hBCb24yDEH4hnvlWmO_D42yP0bj.jpg?v=1787627253"},{"product_id":"banksia-nivea","title":"Banksia nivea","description":"\u003cp\u003eUnlike the upright banksias most people picture, this one lies down. Banksia nivea, still known to many growers as the honeypot dryandra, forms a low sprawling mound of long, stiff, deeply divided leaves with white woolly undersides, and the golden flower heads sit tucked in at ground level among the foliage rather than on display above it. You often smell the nectar before you find them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt comes from the gravelly lateritic soils of south-western Western Australia and behaves accordingly: full sun, very free-draining ground, and next to no summer water once established. On a raised bed, in a rock garden or along the top of a dry embankment it works as a low native filler, and it brings honeyeaters down to knee height.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn humid summer-rainfall country it is short-lived at best. If you garden east of the divide, treat it as a pot plant in a coarse sandy mix and keep it out of the sprinkler line. Supplied in 130mm pots.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 2 sizes, from 130mm up to 250mm, priced from $16.95 to $59.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64308371489137,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"130mm","offer_id":64311637737841,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/1jby5J4hiwWt02rl1g6dm_AVCTG1mm.jpg?v=1787627183"},{"product_id":"banksia-prionotes-dwarf","title":"Acorn Banksia - Banksia prionotes Dwarf","description":"\u003cp\u003ePlant this one into sand, or into a mound built to imitate sand, and most of the work is done. The dwarf form of acorn banksia carries the flowers of the species on a shorter, bushier frame that suits a courtyard bed or a large tub rather than a paddock. Those flowers are the reason to grow it: fat woolly spikes that start chalky white and open from the base upwards into bright orange, so a single bud shows both colours at once for weeks on end.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFlowering runs into the cooler months, the spikes hold well when cut, and wattlebirds and honeyeaters come in close to work them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrown outside Western Australia it is unforgiving of wet feet, heavy clay and humid summers. Full sun, gritty free-draining soil, no phosphorus, and let it dry out between waterings once established. Prune only into green growth; banksias rarely reshoot from bare old wood, and a hard cut usually kills the branch outright.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 2 sizes, from 130mm up to 140mm, priced from $16.95 to $16.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64308372963697,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"130mm","offer_id":64311681286513,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/auM36D5byOeJy0e2LMaVA_lA9hSe0r.jpg?v=1787627184"},{"product_id":"banksia-serrata","title":"Old Man Banksia - Banksia serrata","description":"\u003cp\u003eStandard garden fertiliser will kill this tree. Like the rest of the family it takes phosphorus badly, and a scatter of general purpose NPK over the root zone can yellow the foliage and finish an established specimen inside a season. Low phosphorus native blends only, or nothing at all in decent soil.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat you are buying is character: thick, warty, fissured grey bark on a crooked trunk, stiff leaves with saw toothed edges, and fat greenish cream flower spikes through the warmer months that honeyeaters work by day and possums by night. Spent cones go woody and hang on the tree for years, seed follicles gaping open like faces, which is where May Gibbs found her banksia men.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt grows naturally on sandy coastal country and wants sharp drainage and full sun; heavy wet clay invites root rot. The gnarled trunk character only arrives with age, but the tree is tough once away and takes salt wind without complaint.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 10 sizes, from 140mm up to 500L, priced from $16.95 to $4139.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"200L","offer_id":64308373193073,"sku":null,"price":1459.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64308373258609,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"500mm","offer_id":64308373291377,"sku":null,"price":229.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64308373324145,"sku":null,"price":61.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64308373389681,"sku":null,"price":249.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"500L","offer_id":64308373422449,"sku":null,"price":4139.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"100L","offer_id":64308373455217,"sku":null,"price":649.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64308373487985,"sku":null,"price":139.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"75L","offer_id":64308373520753,"sku":null,"price":459.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64308373553521,"sku":null,"price":30.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"420mm","offer_id":64446145233265,"sku":null,"price":299.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/dLj5HA-F-IlbIry7NvpnV_xmu7Y5bj.jpg?v=1787627254"},{"product_id":"banksia-telmatiaea","title":"Swamp Fox Banksia - Banksia telmatiaea","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the seasonally swampy sand heaths north of Perth, this small banksia does something most of its relatives cannot: it stands in ground that is waterlogged all winter and bone dry by late summer. That makes swamp fox banksia genuinely useful for the low, boggy corner of a native garden where the drainage is only good for half the year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is a modest shrub with fine narrow leaves and small woolly flower heads in dull gold and grey-brown, often half buried inside the bush rather than displayed on top. Nobody plants it for a show from the street. It is a plant for collectors, for revegetation work and for gardeners who like the odd corners of the genus, and the heads still carry nectar for honeyeaters.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFull sun, sandy soil, and no phosphorus fertiliser. Winter wet it will take; rich, permanently moist garden loam it will not, and that distinction is where most cultivated plants of this species are lost.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 2 sizes, from 130mm up to 140mm, priced from $16.95 to $16.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64308375421297,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"130mm","offer_id":64311685513585,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/0R-KHji_yRw04kJa81mvV_AZZC8Mk2.jpg?v=1787627253"},{"product_id":"banskia-prionotes","title":"Acorn Banksia - Banksia prionotes","description":"\u003cp\u003eThere is a reason acorn banksia dominates the native cut flower trade in Western Australia. The spikes are large, they last for weeks in a vase, and the way they open from the bottom up, chalky white bud to hot orange, gives you two colours on one head. On the plant they come from autumn into winter and pull in every honeyeater in the district.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLeft to grow, it makes a small tree with an open crown and grey-green serrated leaves, better looking with age than in its first few years, when it can be gawky and one-sided.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEverything hinges on drainage. It grows naturally in deep sand and dies quickly in soil that stays wet, particularly during warm humid weather. East of the divide, treat it as a raised-bed or large-pot subject, use a coarse sandy mix, water sparingly over summer and keep phosphorus away from it entirely. Supplied in 5 litre pots.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 5L, at $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"5L","offer_id":64308375945585,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/KjuTqLWCsCc8cxClr4KUx_LX7KrwQ8.jpg?v=1787627252"},{"product_id":"banksia-integrifolia","title":"Coast Banksia - Banksia integrifolia","description":"\u003cp\u003eCoast banksia grows the way the wind tells it to, low and gnarled on an exposed headland, taller and straighter on a single trunk once something shelters it. The leaves give the species away, dark green above and silver-white beneath, so the whole canopy flickers when a sea breeze moves through. Pale lemon spikes open mainly through autumn and winter, feeding honeyeaters and lorikeets by day and possums and gliders after dark. It works as a coastal shade tree, a foreshore windbreak and the anchor of a habitat planting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eSand, salt and the damage done by earthworks\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe natural run is the east coast, from Victoria through New South Wales into Queensland, so salt wind, sandy ground and light frost are all within its range, and sea spray and sand blast are ordinary weather rather than a stress event. Full sun is not negotiable; in shade it leans, thins and never builds a decent head. Drainage matters far more than fertility. This is the most soil tolerant banksia in the range and it copes with a trace of phosphorus better than the western species, but it still sulks in clay that stays wet all winter, so plant on a raised mound on heavy ground and keep lawn irrigation away from the root zone. The failure that kills established trees here is not drought or salt, it is earthworks. Coast banksia roots shallowly and widely, and fill heaped over the root plate during landscaping, or a trench cut through it for services or a retaining wall, will brown a canopy off a season later, long after anyone connects the two events. Settle your levels, paths and drainage lines before planting, then leave the ground under the canopy undisturbed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eTree, screen or cold climate shrub\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eChoose this one when you want an actual tree, with a trunk and a canopy you can sit under, and note that it is the only banksia here stocked in advanced grades for immediate scale. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-ericifolia\"\u003eHeath banksia\u003c\/a\u003e stays a fine textured shrub and answers a screening brief better, with upright orange to red spikes instead of lemon ones. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-marginata\"\u003eSilver banksia\u003c\/a\u003e is the pick for colder southern and inland gardens, where frost and cool summers suit it. If your site is front line coastal sand and you want canopy, take this one and let the wind do the shaping. Buyers replacing a failed street tree on a sandy verge want coast banksia; buyers filling a fence line in a small garden want the heath. The rest of the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/banksia\"\u003ebanksia range\u003c\/a\u003e is worth comparing for flowering times.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eCones, cuts and what never to feed it\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrune young trees for shape and clearance only, lifting the lower branches in stages if you want to mow or walk beneath them. Unlike most banksias, this one carries epicormic buds under the bark and can push new shoots from older wood, which is how it comes back after fire, but garden pruning is not fire and that regrowth is slow, bunched and coarse, so shape a young tree rather than cutting a mature one back and waiting on it. Old grey cones can stay on the tree; they are part of the character and the seed brings in cockatoos. Feed nothing at all, or a native blend labelled low phosphorus, since ordinary lawn and rose fertilisers burn the roots of anything in the Proteaceae. Keep mulch coarse and back from the trunk so the collar stays dry. Water deeply through the first summer or two, then leave it to fend for itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 18 sizes, from 75mm up to 600L, priced from $16.95 to $6829.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"500L","offer_id":64311385260401,"sku":null,"price":4219.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400L","offer_id":64311385293169,"sku":null,"price":3579.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300L","offer_id":64311385325937,"sku":null,"price":3369.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200L","offer_id":64311385358705,"sku":null,"price":1459.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"500mm","offer_id":64311385391473,"sku":null,"price":479.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"75mm","offer_id":64311385424241,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"330mm","offer_id":64311385457009,"sku":null,"price":149.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"100L","offer_id":64311385489777,"sku":null,"price":649.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"600L","offer_id":64311385522545,"sku":null,"price":6829.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"45L","offer_id":64311385555313,"sku":null,"price":269.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"25L","offer_id":64311385588081,"sku":null,"price":129.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311385653617,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311385686385,"sku":null,"price":109.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"430mm","offer_id":64311385719153,"sku":null,"price":229.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"75L","offer_id":64311385751921,"sku":null,"price":449.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311385817457,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64311385882993,"sku":null,"price":239.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311385948529,"sku":null,"price":61.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"35L","offer_id":64446160404849,"sku":null,"price":179.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false},{"title":"30L","offer_id":64447045075313,"sku":null,"price":199.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-banksia-integrifolia-roller-coaster-banksia-integrifolia-20260611_4587872d-763c-44df-bad7-7a62f13a8620.png?v=1785551704"},{"product_id":"banksia-ericifolia","title":"Heath Banksia - Banksia ericifolia","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom a distance heath banksia reads as a fine textured evergreen shrub, almost conifer like, the leaves so short and crowded that the plant looks combed. Then autumn arrives and it lifts upright cylindrical spikes in orange through to deep red, held clear of the foliage and still open in winter when little else is feeding honeyeaters. Sandstone heath around Sydney and the New South Wales north coast is its home ground. In a garden it does the work of an informal evergreen screen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eSandy ground, sharp drainage and the fertiliser that kills it\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWarm temperate coastal gardens suit it, on acid sandy soils of the sort most plants call poor. Full sun keeps it dense; part shade opens it up and cuts flowering. Drainage is the second condition, and a slope, a raised bed or a mounded row solves most sites that would otherwise stay wet. Set plants roughly 1.5 m apart for a screen line and let them grow into each other rather than clipping them into a wall. Growth is moderate, so give a screen a couple of seasons before you expect it to close, and water through the first summer only. The one thing that reliably kills a heath banksia is fertiliser. It belongs to the Proteaceae, and standard lawn, citrus and rose products carry enough phosphorus to burn the fine proteoid roots, so a plant fed the same way as the rest of the bed yellows between the veins and dies over a season. Use a native fertiliser labelled low phosphorus, or use nothing at all, and think about where lawn feed and runoff end up. Sodden soil is the other risk, since it opens the door to Phytophthora root rot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhere it sits beside the other banksias\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eAgainst \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-integrifolia\"\u003ecoast banksia\u003c\/a\u003e the difference is scale and outline: that one becomes a broad headed tree with two toned leaves, this one stays shrubby, upright and fine, so it screens a fence line at eye level instead of shading a lawn. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-marginata\"\u003eSilver banksia\u003c\/a\u003e overlaps in size but flowers in short pale yellow candles and takes colder inland winters, while heath banksia gives you the strong orange to red spikes and prefers a milder coastal climate. Pick heath banksia for winter colour and small bird cover in a sandy garden, and silver banksia where frost is a regular event. If the brief is a screen with winter bird traffic, plant this one in numbers; if the brief is shade, neither shrub will do and you want the tree. Both sit in the wider \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/banksia\"\u003ebanksia collection\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eTip pruning, vase flowers and feeding\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eStart pruning while the plant is young. Tip prune each flush of growth to build density from the base, and cut flowers for the vase, which does the same job. This species regenerates from seed rather than from a lignotuber, so it does not reliably reshoot from leafless old wood and a hard renovation cut usually ends with a dead skeleton. If a plant has already gone bare and woody inside, replace it rather than trying to bring it back. Feed once after flowering with a low phosphorus native product, or skip feeding entirely on sandy coastal ground. Water through the first summer to settle the roots, then taper off and let rainfall carry it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 140mm up to 250mm, priced from $18.95 to $59.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311404560753,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311404593521,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311404626289,"sku":null,"price":18.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-lantern-banksia-banksia-ericifolia-20260611_85e9f40a-8a3c-4d54-8863-a43d1f4cf035.png?v=1785551740"},{"product_id":"banksia-marginata","title":"Silver Banksia - Banksia marginata","description":"\u003cp\u003eSilver banksia changes shape across its range, from a low windswept coastal shrub to a small crooked tree with a short trunk, so the form depends on the seed source behind the plant. Leaves are narrow and blunt tipped, dark above with a white underside that flashes in wind, and the flowers are short pale yellow candles that harden into the woody cones people know. It flowers into the cold months, which makes it a nectar source for honeyeaters and wattlebirds when almost nothing else is open.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eCold winters, poor ground and the danger of a watered garden bed\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIts range covers South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and the tablelands of New South Wales, so this is the banksia for gardens that get real frost and cool summers. Full sun, gritty or sandy soil and no attention at all comes close to its ideal, and it copes with exposure, thin soil and drought once the roots are down. What it will not survive is kindness on heavy ground. Planted in an irrigated bed on clay and watered along with everything else through summer, silver banksia rots from the roots up, and Phytophthora dieback moves quickly once it starts, taking a healthy looking plant inside a few weeks. Give it a dry corner of its own, mound the planting position where the soil is heavy, and keep mulch and soil clear of the trunk collar. Frost, wind and thin gravelly ground are ordinary conditions for this species, and it will hold on where most garden shrubs give up. Because mature size varies so much between provenances, measure the space before you commit to a tight position: some forms stay a rounded shrub, others build into a small tree.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eChoosing between silver, heath and coast banksia\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eSilver banksia is the cold climate member of this group. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-ericifolia\"\u003eHeath banksia\u003c\/a\u003e wants a milder coastal garden and gives brighter orange to red spikes on finer foliage, so it is the stronger screening shrub near the water but less at home on a frosty tableland. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/banksia-integrifolia\"\u003eCoast banksia\u003c\/a\u003e is a straightforward tree and comes in far larger grades, which matters when you need canopy quickly. Take silver banksia when you are planting for wildlife in a cool inland or southern garden, or when you want a small native tree that will not run away from a suburban block. All three feed birds through the cooler months, so flowering season is not the thing to choose on: let climate, final size and flower colour decide, and buy the coastal species only if the site is genuinely coastal or mild.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eRestrained pruning and a light hand with fertiliser\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eTip prune from the first season to keep the habit compact, and cut spent flower heads with a short length of stem rather than reaching back into bare wood. A cut branch will not push new shoots from the bare end, though the species carries a lignotuber and can send fresh stems from the base if the top is lost, which is worth knowing before writing off a plant that has been knocked back by frost or stock. Leave some old cones on the plant; they carry the seed and hold the character of the species. Feed with a native fertiliser labelled low phosphorus, or leave it unfed, because general garden and lawn products will burn the fine roots of any banksia. Do not dig or cultivate under the canopy, and keep mulch thin, coarse and off the stem. Water through the first summer, then let it rely on rainfall.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 6 sizes, from 140mm up to 400mm, priced from $17.95 to $199.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311452991857,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"330mm","offer_id":64311453057393,"sku":null,"price":149.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311453090161,"sku":null,"price":129.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311453188465,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64311453221233,"sku":null,"price":199.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311453254001,"sku":null,"price":17.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20L","offer_id":64446167646577,"sku":null,"price":99.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/pd15-176-silver-banksia-banksia-marginata_2ab1a8df-4260-4e6a-a6dd-ea2d3b2d5c46.png?v=1785551876"},{"product_id":"banksia-spinulosa","title":"Hairpin Banksia - Banksia spinulosa","description":"\u003cp\u003eGardeners choosing between this and Banksia ericifolia usually land here when they want something smaller and less rangy. Hairpin Banksia is a variable species, running from low suckering forms through to a rounded shrub, so read the size on the label rather than assuming.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe common name comes from the flower: honey to gold spikes threaded with dark hooked styles that give the cone a pinstriped look through the cooler months. Leaves are narrow, toothed at the tips, pale underneath. Honeyeaters and wattlebirds work the spikes hard, which is the main reason it goes in.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrainage matters more than watering. It resents phosphorus, so keep lawn and rose fertilisers well away from the root zone and use a native blend or nothing at all. Most forms carry a lignotuber and reshoot after a hard cut, though recovery from bare wood is slow. Delivery is a flat $99 to QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, ACT and WA on orders over $399.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 4 sizes, from 140mm up to 400mm, priced from $17.95 to $199.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311508631921,"sku":null,"price":33.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64311508664689,"sku":null,"price":199.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311508697457,"sku":null,"price":17.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311508730225,"sku":null,"price":109.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/fcjXJCshIZooLc2NkQvu2_FPH6RT6P.jpg?v=1787630136"},{"product_id":"banksia-sessilis","title":"Parrot Bush - Banksia Sessilis","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the sandplains and gravel country of south west Western Australia comes Parrot Bush, a banksia that looks nothing like the eastern cone bearing species most gardeners picture. The leaves are small, wedge shaped and genuinely prickly, and the flowers are rounded creamy yellow heads sitting tight against the foliage rather than standing on stalks. Honeyeaters and cockatoos work it hard.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSite it away from paths, gates and anywhere children brush past, because the foliage bites. Full sun and low water once established suit it, and the one condition it will not forgive is soil that stays damp.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike many Western Australian members of the protea family it is very prone to root rot in warm, wet ground, so east of the ranges it belongs in a raised, gravelly, open position rather than in clay. Skip phosphorus rich fertilisers entirely. Used as a rough, impenetrable screen or refuge planting in a native garden it earns its keep. Available in 130mm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 130mm, at $16.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"130mm","offer_id":64311511875953,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/ReTqnLhsABu0NgZru5ZDR_OuzrcGie.jpg?v=1787630240"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/collections\/pd15-176-silver-banksia-banksia-marginata_2ab1a8df-4260-4e6a-a6dd-ea2d3b2d5c46.png?v=1787348988","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/collections\/banksia.oembed","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}