Correa backhouseana is a rounded, hardy shrub from coastal southern Australia, grown for its pendent cream to red-and-yellow flowers. It does best in a lightly shaded spot and tolerates salt wind and light frost.
Family
Rutaceae (Citrus family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Part shade
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then allow the soil to dry between waterings; it tolerates dry conditions once established.
Soil
Free-draining, sandy or loamy soil; tolerates poor, sandy coastal soils.
Temperature
Hardy to about −5 °C; protect from hard frost, especially in the UK.
How easy
Easy
Native range
Victoria, Tasmania
Climate
subtropical
About
Correa backhouseana is a species of rounded shrub that is endemic to coastal and near-coastal areas of southern Australia. It has elliptical to egg-shaped or round leaves that are densely hairy on the lower surface, and cylindrical to funnel-shaped, cream-coloured to pale green or red and yellow flowers.
How to grow it
Correa backhouseana is a hardy plant down to −5 °C (23 °F). It is useful as a screening plant or along fencelines. It is also used as a container plant and its flowers and foliage can be used in floral arrangements. It prefers a position with some shade and will tolerate salt-laden winds and frost.
The cultivar Correa backhouseana var. coriacea 'Eucla Gold' has smaller, narrower, and more brightly coloured flowers than usual. It was selected from a wild population near Eucla, Western Australia and brought into cultivation in Victoria in 1988.
Where it grows
This correa occurs in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. Variety backhouseana usually grows on coastal dunes and among rocks in coastal Tasmania, the Bass Strait Islands and near Cape Otway in coastal Victoria. Variety coriacea grows on dunes and granite outcrops westwards from the Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia and on limestone escarpments along the south-eastern coast of Western Australia. Variety orbicularis is endemic to Kangaroo Island in South Australia where it grows in coastal heath on sand, often over limestone.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Correa backhouseana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.