Anyone who has followed our site for a while would know the challenges, we’ve faced planting new natives at Booyong. We’ve had some very dry seasons recently and as we stay at the property once a month it’s not uncommon for new tubers to not survive from one visit to the next. Despite this we have persisted and celebrate our successes, the most recent one being the Grevillea juniperina ‘Carpet Queen’ of the Proteaceae family.

This dense evergreen prostrate is a ground covering plant that looks lovely in the cabin garden bed. It has apricot blooms throughout most of the year and its small prickly foliage provides great cover for the wildlife. The Eastern Spinebill  is a regular visit and obviously enjoys the sweet nectar. Bees, butterflies, other bird and wildlife do too!                                                                                                                       One reason it has flourished at Booyong would be that it is drought and frost resistant. When planting, the ‘Carpet Queen’ prefers a well-drained acid, neutral, alkaline soil in a sunny position. We would expect it to grow approximately 2 metres wide and it reaches a height of .6metres. It’s a wonderful low maintenance plant that would be suitable for a Coastal or rockery garden in a temperate or Mediterranean zone.

We may try to propagate it to plant around the garden shed, this is a sloping garden bed and the grevillea carpet queen would be a perfect addition. I am loving the range of grevilleas we are accumulating, and they all bring us, the guests and the wildlife endless joy.