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Our fields are looking a little more colorful these days thanks to ‘Grandicolor’, a new hybrid protea from Australia. This beautiful cultivar is a combination of P. grandiceps and P. aurea, a very unusual and unique cross to say the least. Its greenish-cream bracts, which deepen to peach at the base, have a delicate pinkish rim and conspicuous hairs like the grandiceps and surround rusty-red centers. Grandicolor produces dainty, petite blooms off and on from autumn through spring. The egg-shape foliage is small and leathery with a silvery-green hue and the stems straight and upright like the aurea. From our field to the vase Grandicolor lives up to its name!

During a recent field trip, clusters of long pink flower spikes caught our eye. These giant Emu Trees, also known as Hakea francisiana can grow stems up to 8 feet tall. The vibrant flowers bloom within the blue-green foliage and the long sweeping style of the branches ensures that they are predominately displayed, never failing to attract attention. They take their name, francisiana, from George William Francis a Victorian botanist who established a herbarium and was the first director of the Adelaide Botanical Gardens in Australia. This hakea has been in cultivation for years but is mainly suited to Mediterranean-like climates and it flowers best in an open, very well drained areas. Francisianna is tolerant of moderate frosts and its blooms are very attractive to pollinators. Use it as a feature shrub in the garden or as an accent flower in arrangements.

Pinita just recently entered the Protea scene and has done so with quite a splash! Considered a hybrid queen, this flower is a blend of P. magnifica (queen) and P. longifolia. Pinita has a medium-to-large bloom with a slightly waxen appearance, obviously more longifolia influence and lacking the woolly beards of the magnifica. The floral bracts are beautifully flushed and tipped in a bright chili-pepper pink, then shading to cream at the base. The central peaked dome is heavily tipped with black, providing for a strong and interesting contrast. Pinita looks great mixed with other protea or combined with an array other colorful flowers and foliage. Here's are just some of the lovely ways we've found her being displayed!