Look at this thing! is it not one of the most spectacular flowers you have ever seen? I have been impatiently waiting for this moment in my Hakea francisiana Grafted life cycle since I planted it 6 months ago. It began flowering a couple of weeks ago, just as we went into COVID lockdown again, it must have known it spirit lifting powers were needed.
This is a grafted form of Hakea francisiana or Emu Tree, as it naturally grows in Western Australia and South Australia where they don’t experience high levels of humidity.
My apologies but this blog post is simply a celebration of a flower, my specimen hasn’t been in long enough to display the mature habit of the large shrub or small tree it will finally become.
I am absolutely obsessed with the colour of these flowers as they open and mature, the gradient of pale yellow through to peach and then finally hot pink is delicious. Combined with the long, grey green upright leaves as a back drop makes the flower colour super punchy.
In the image above you can see the axillary flower buds on the stem, these seem to develop sporadically, I am assuming they will not all form flowers this year, however it is supposed to flower from Winter into Spring so who knows? Hakea francisiana can be sourced as a grafted plant from specialist native nurseries, this particular grafted form is called ‘Intensity’.
This Hakea is a tall bushy shrub to small tree growing up to 4 metres high x 3 metres wide. It likes a sunny open position in a well drained soil, however mine is very happy in part shade with a clay sub-soil.
There is also a similar Hakea called Hakea bucculenta which can also be purchased grafted. Hakea bucculenta has a narrower leaf and the flower colour is more an organgy red than pink.
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