Plants from down under – Waratah

Name – The Waratah consists of five species of shrubs or small trees native to south-eastern Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.. The name waratah comes from the Eora Aboriginal people, who were the original inhabitants of the Sydney area and the botanic name Telopea is derived from the Greek 'telopos', meaning 'seen from afar', and refers to the great distance from which the crimson flowers are discernible. The specific name speciosissima is the superlative of the Latin adjective 'speciosus', meaning 'beautiful' or 'handsome'

Description – Waratahs have spirally arranged leaves and large, dense flower heads up to six inches in diameter with numerous small red flowers and a basal ring of red bracts that make the plant highly noticeable.

Origin – The Waratah is a spectacular garden plant which flowers prolifically and tends to be long-lived. Seeds should be sown in a coarse sandy medium and soon after germination the seedlings should be transplanted into individual pots of similar soil. Fresh seeds germinate readily but the seedlings are prone to the fungal disease 'damping off', which may be reduced by exposing the seedlings to full light. Propagation by cuttings is also possible. In the garden, plants should be grown in lightly shaded to sunny positions in deep, well drained soil. They need to be well watered until fully established but water-logging must be avoided. Feed with Protea feed that contains no phosphates All the varieties respond well to pruning which encourages flowering the following year, and overcomes the natural tendency of the shrub to assume a straggly shape. Most species are also hardy in temperatures of up to minus 7 degrees Celsius once they are established.

For Decoration - It is a spectacular cut flower and lasts well in water.

Australian waratah photograph by aussiegall, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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