Protea Family Plants: Showy, Exotic, and Tough

One of our specialties at Grubb & Nadler is growing plants in the protea family. You might recognize proteas and leucospermums (pincushion flowers) because they are popular in the floral trade; Many of our neighbors in the Rainbow Valley grow acres of them for cut foliage and flowers because conditions are optimal.

Leucadendron ‘Ebony’ at Grubb & Nadler in Rainbow Valley near Fallbrook, California

We grow them in containers for use in landscapes and gardens. All the varieties we grow are evergreen and most of them need minimal water once established in the landscape. They come from climates similar to California’s in South Africa and Australia.

One thing to note is that members of this family specialize in low-fertility soils; most cannot tolerate phosphorus in their growing medium or fertilizer. Most also appreciate a low-pH (acidic) soil.

Grevillea ‘Moonlight’ is an almost ever-blooming shrub in the protea family grown at Grubb & Nadler.

The most versatile are the foliage shrubs in the genus Leucadendron and the flowering shrubs in the genus Grevillea. Leucadendron ‘Safari Sunset’, with its reddish new growth and evergreen laurel-like leaves is the most popular, but its in-demand offspring Ebony and Jester are equally tolerant of less-than-perfect soil conditions.

Leucadendron ‘Ebony’ and Grevillea ‘Honey Gem’ side-by-side at Grubb & Nadler Nurseries.

Leucadendron ‘Ebony’ is a dense, dark purple shrub with glowing-red new growth at branch tips. Ever-blooming Grevillea ‘Long John’ is a shrub or small tree with a habit of continuing to open its salmon-color blooms atop glossy, thread-like foliage up to 12 months of the year. Take a look at the pictures below.

Grevillea ‘Long John’ is grown at Grubb & Nadler in Fallbrook, California, in containers for landscape use.

Leucadendron ‘Jester’, foreground, and Grevillea ‘Moonlight’, background, left, at Grubb & Nadler.

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