{"product_id":"robyn-gordon-grevillea-grevillea-bipinnatifida-x-banksii-robyn-gordon","title":"Robyn Gordon Grevillea - Grevillea bipinnatifida x banksii 'Robyn Gordon'","description":"\u003cp\u003eRobyn Gordon flowers in every season on a low, rounded shrub that spreads wider than it grows tall, and the trade for all that colour is foliage that some people cannot handle. Big crimson red flower heads appear on and off right through the year, and honeyeaters visit it from first light. It began as a chance seedling at Myall Park in southern inland Queensland, with Grevillea bipinnatifida and Grevillea banksii as its parents, and it set the pattern for a whole family of compact, long flowering hybrids that followed it into nurseries.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat nonstop flowering is why it ends up as the backbone of so many bird gardens. Used in a row it makes a low informal hedge along a front fence or the back of a bed; massed, it covers a bank, where plants set a metre and a half apart knit into one sheet of foliage within a few seasons and hold the soil while they do it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhere it grows well, and where it sulks\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt flowers hardest in full sun but accepts a few hours of shade in the afternoon, at the cost of fewer heads and a slightly more open habit. It is more forgiving of humid summers than many grevilleas, and it is grown widely from south east Queensland through coastal New South Wales and into warm parts of Victoria. Drainage is still the deciding factor. In clay that stays wet it declines from the roots, so mound the bed or plant on a slope. Established plants take a light frost; a heavy one scorches the tips. Through its first summer, soak it whenever the top of the root ball dries; once roots reach the surrounding soil it lives on rain for most of the year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo grevillea is more often linked to contact dermatitis in Australia. Handling the leaves and flowers can leave sensitive people with red, itchy welts and sometimes blisters, and a reaction can develop after years of handling with no trouble. Put on gloves and a long sleeved shirt to prune it, wash skin afterwards, and do not plant it where bare arms and legs brush against it every day. If someone in the household has reacted before, choose a different plant. As with its banksii parent, keep children from sucking nectar out of the flowers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe parent, and the apricot sister\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIts own parent, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/red-silky-oak-grevillea-banksii\"\u003eGrevillea banksii\u003c\/a\u003e, is the choice when you want a small tree rather than a shrub. Within the same compact hybrid group, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/superb-grevillea-grevillea-bipinnatifida-x-banksii-alba-superb\"\u003eSuperb Grevillea\u003c\/a\u003e brings apricot orange instead of red on a similar frame, for a scheme that needs a softer note. For more long flowering shrubs that keep a garden in colour through winter, see the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/flowering\"\u003eFlowering Plants\u003c\/a\u003e range.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eKeeping a Robyn Gordon hedge tight\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeadhead after every flush, cutting into the soft green growth just below the old flowers. That keeps the bush tight and stops the centre from going woody. A hedge of Robyn Gordon can be shaped with hand shears two or three times a year, but keep the cuts in leafy wood and leave the face of the hedge slightly rounded so light reaches the lower branches. Feed in early spring with a slow release native fertiliser low in phosphorus; standard garden fertilisers, poultry manure and lawn food do it lasting harm. Caterpillars occasionally chew new growth in warm weather, and the plant recovers on its own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 2 sizes, from 300mm up to 400mm, priced from $139.00 to $159.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/grevillea-and-bird-attracting-plants\"\u003eplanting for birds\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67671924244849,"sku":null,"price":139.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":67671924900209,"sku":null,"price":159.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/robyn-gordon-grevillea-grevillea-bipinnatifida-x-banksii-robyn-gordon.jpg?v=1791521954","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/robyn-gordon-grevillea-grevillea-bipinnatifida-x-banksii-robyn-gordon","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}