As a colour combination pink and grey is one of my favourites, especially on a plant, grey leaves and a soft pink flower win me over every time! Luckily for me it is a fairly common combination in native Australian plants, look at this Guichenotia ledifolia I photographed in Canberra Botanic Gardens last weekend.

Guichenotia’s are a lovely genus predominately found in Western Australia, they flower prolifically in Winter with small open bell flowers which hang down in delicate clusters. They enjoy a well drained soil in part shade and benefit from a regular tip prune after flowers.

The specimen in these images was around 1 meter high by 1.5 wide and planted in the foreground of the garden bed, Guichenotia ledifolia can also be used as a back drop plant or as a low screen and would look love planted with some lime green foliaged plants for contrast.

I have found Guichenotia species to provide long lived cut flowers for inside and the fury grey leaves also can be striking in flower arrangements, this low shrub has a long flowering period from mid-Winter through to Spring.

I like to include Guichenotia in plantings under the canopy of existing Eucalyptus or as a foliage contrast plant with Acacia ‘Mini Cog’ or Baeckea virgata Dwarf, sometimes in a nursery pot they can appear a little long and leggy but don’t let that deter you, they respond so well to pruning, hope you manage to source some from somewhere 😉

Comments

3 responses to “Pink and Grey: Guichenotia ledifolia”

  1. Stephen Ceccato

    Beautiful plant but hard to find for sale.

  2. Tom

    Can they grow in QLD

    1. Kath Gadd

      Hi Tom,

      Where in Queensland are you? They naturally grow as heath or coastal plants in well drained soils in WA so they do well in coastal positions/rockeries. If you’re not too far north (where the humidity might be an issue) it’s worth trying.

      All the best,
      Hannah and Kath
      Hannah and Kath

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