King protea
Also called Giant protea, Honeypot, Koningsprotea.
| Light | full sun |
|---|---|
| Water | Every 10 days in the growing season, every 21 in winter |
| Pets | Cats not known, dogs not known |
Source: ASPCA Animal Poison Control, toxic and non-toxic plants, no entry for Protea cynaroides.
The king protea is the national flower of South Africa and it comes from fynbos, which is a poor, acid, sandy, wind blown habitat and nothing like a garden border. Seed is sown from the middle of March, once the day temperature starts to drop, because germination depends on the swing between warm days and cold nights. It is covered with about a centimetre of sand and protected from birds and rodents, and it comes up in three or four weeks. In cooler northern gardens the same reasoning puts sowing in September and October under glass. Then comes the wait, because a seedling takes four or five years to flower. Give it sand, sun, air and no fertiliser, and leave it alone. Kindness in the form of feeding and watering is what kills them.
Ailments observed
| Yellow new leaves at the growing tip | Phosphate poisoning from an ordinary fertiliser or a rich compost. Stop feeding entirely and flush the root area with plenty of clean water. Use only a low phosphorus feed made for fynbos, or nothing at all. |
|---|---|
| A soft or mushy base to the stem | Root rot from summer watering or heavy soil that holds moisture. Nothing recovers a rotted crown. Replant into raised, coarse, sandy ground where water runs straight through, and water only in the cool months. |
Neighbouring entries
Box
Buxus sempervirensBox for hedging and topiary: the long winter planting window in each hemisphere, what a new hedge drinks, and what box blight looks like.
Cape leadwort
Plumbago auriculataCape plumbago for a long-flowering, drought-tolerant screen: why it is cut back hard at the end of winter, and a genuine skin-contact caution.
Cherry laurel
Prunus laurocerasusCherry laurel for a broad-leaved evergreen screen: why it dislikes heavy feeding, when the shot-hole disease appears, and the truth about its leaves.