Banksia Seminuda
Banksia Seminuda, a little known Tree that is under used in Gardens.
This is a Banksia that I first saw in a book about 10 years ago. I found it interesting right from the start because it was one of the few Banksias that grow into a tall tree. It had a narrow upright habit and also had bright yellow Banksia type flowers. The other thing that interested me was the fact that in its natural habitat in Western Australia, it grows near rivers and streams which made me think that it may survive in heavier soils that weren’t so well draining. Maybe!
Most Western Australian Banksias grow in sandy or gravelly soils that are very well drained and as a consequence don’t do very well in conditions that are different to those in their natural habitat. This Banksia though, I thought might be a bit more versatile. Over the years I’d always kept an eye out for one in nurseries but it wasn’t until about 3 years ago I came across some at a native plant market.
Of course you can guess I did buy one and decided to plant it the back corner of my garden. This was the obvious place I knew it was meant to be not only fast growing but in its natural habitat it was meant to grow up to 25m in height. The funny thing about it though when I did plant it I didn’t really expect it to live all that long. As I said in its natural habitat it grew next to rivers which indicated to me that it may not be very drought tolerant and secondly the place where I planted it had very little top soil and had a heavy clay base just a few centimetres below. So when I planted it I didn’t hold much hope for its survival.
1 year after planting
Well as time went by the first thing that I discovered was that it was in fact quite a quick grower. The first year it grew to about 2m in height and this was with very little rainfall or other watering by me. The other thing that I discovered was that the phosphorus in the soil hadn’t affected it adversely at all. Now as I write this post it has just come through its third summer and is now just over 3m tall. The amazing thing about this summer was that it was extremely dry. There was very little rainfall and the Melaleucas growing in the vicinity are starting to send their roots into its root zone so the competition for the little moisture in the ground is quite fierce. Despite this it has still continued to grow without any watering from me and has survived some very hot dry days over summer including 4 days in row where the temperature got over 40 degrees Celsius as well as another day when the temperature got as high as 46 degrees.
3 years after planting
So what more can I say about this tree. It appears to be a very drought tolerant plant, grows fairly quickly, isn’t affected by phosphorus toxicity and appears to tolerate soil conditions that are different to its natural habitat.
The other amazing thing is that you never appear to see it in nurseries, even the specialist native nurseries. At this stage I’m prepared to give it the thumbs up and say it deserves to become more main stream. So if you ever see it for sale somewhere and feel like you may be able to find a spot for it in your garden them please give it try and let me know how you go.
Hopefully my Banksia Seminuda will continue to thrive. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and keep you informed.
View some Banksia Seminuda Flowers
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Posted: April 25th, 2009 under Banksia, Garden Plants, Gems.
Tags: Banksia, Banksia Seminuda, drought tolerant plant, trees
Comments
Comment from Rebel Gardener
Time December 26, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Hi Steve nice to hear from you and I’m very interested in your comment. It’s unfortunate seed grown Banksias take quite a few years to flower. I’m lead to believe most of the Western Aust Banksias are difficult to propagate from cuttings but I intend to try propagate this one at some stage in an attempt to get a plant that flowers earlier. Please let me know how your flowers turn out.
Comment from Sarah
Time February 25, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I just planted a Seminuda. I have been looking after this one fairly well, hopefully it comes through winter (a Tassie winter) and puts on a spurt in spring.
Comment from Rebel Gardener
Time February 26, 2010 at 7:23 am
All the best with it, let me know how it goes.
Comment from Steve Bromley
Time March 5, 2010 at 7:58 am
Hello again Rebel Gardner. Just thought I’d check in again with my Seminuda’s progress.
There are well over a dozen cones, now starting to flower. It appears these will be yellow. [ Believe there is a red version too].
The cone deveopment, size and positions are very similat to those of b. Integrifolia and indeed are forming at the same time as the integs, which is good news for the little wattlebirds this winter as a food source. There are also indications of many more cones forming as ongoing over the winter.
Sarah, I don’t think you’ll have any problems with the plant surviving the Tassie winter. Most of my W.A. banksias are surrounded by white pebbles, this appears to increase sunlight by reflection from the stones both warming and protecting the plants and retaining moisture in the soil.
Perhaps your plant is one that was propagated from surplus ones I grew from seed!!. Did you purchase it in Tassie?. Anyhow good luck and happy growing all.
Steve
Comment from Rebel Gardener
Time March 7, 2010 at 7:17 am
Thanks for the update Steve. Just out of interest what other WA Banksias are you growing and what type of soil do you have?
Comment from Steve Bromley
Time March 16, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Hi RG and all, the WA ones that have flowered and are doing well are, Burdettii, Speciosa [ from seed], Baxteri, Coccinea Waite Flame [ orange flowered version ], Seminuda. Others going well but waiting to flower yet are Praemorsa and Blechnifolia. I’m on a long, narrowish rectangular block and the soil overall is very much clay over shale. It was used as a market garden years back but the soil hardens up and cracks when it gets hot and dry. Not sure of the ph as I haven’t tested the soil but I noticed a huge difference in growing performance of different plants in different areas of my block. After 10 years of trial and error I’ve kind of sorted things out, but many banksias bit the dust over the years unfortunatly. I think with Banksias there is a fair bit of trial and error anyway and is part of the challenge of growing them. But in the end the effort is always worthwhile!!!.
Comment from Sarah
Time July 8, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Steve, Yes I purchased the Seminuda in Tassie. Purchased from Red Robin Nursery in Margate, (Channel Highway, about 20 minutes south of Hobart). Do you think my Seminuda could be part of the original stock?
I went back there a few weeks ago and purchased a second Seminuda as the first is doing so well – it’s grown upwards by about 40cm since I planted it in February which I’m quite pleased with. Now I just need it to branch out on the sides a bit!
Comment from Steve Bromley
Time December 26, 2009 at 8:33 am
Hi there. Yes a wonderful plant. I also had a huge interest in this plant. I ended up sending away for seed from Nindethana in W.A. It sucessfully germinated from seed and I planted one out in my garden, which is in Tasmania. Now about seven years old and 5 metres tall it has just started to sprout out buds all over, so I’m keen to see the appearance and size of the flowers.
Like you I have been surprised by its hardiness. It is subject to the westerly weather, has been sprinkled on by snow, minus C temperatures and very cold winter days. It however gets reasonable water, but does withstand relatively dry and sometines hot summers, very impressive. I did have several plants left over and traded them at my local native nusery and they propogated them and now are available for sale in Tasmania.