Sea urchin hakea is a Western Australian shrub or small tree, up to about 9 m, known for its spiky woody seed capsules and pale grey leaves. It is grown in gardens mainly for screening, hedging and bird-attracting flowers, and it needs full sun and well-drained soil.
Family
Proteaceae (Protea family)
Grows as
Tree, Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then mostly rely on rainfall; it tolerates dry conditions once established.
Soil
Well-drained sandy or gritty soil; tolerates poor, nutrient-low soils.
Temperature
Hardy and frost resistant; protect young plants from severe frost.
How easy
Easy
Native range
WSW. Western Australia
About
Hakea petiolaris, commonly known as the sea-urchin hakea, is a shrub or small tree with cream-coloured and pink or purple flowers and woody fruit. It is endemic to the south west of Australia, occurring at the coastal plain, jarrah forest and wheatbelt regions, often at the ancient granite outcrops of Western Australia.
How to grow it
The species is propagated from seed, establishing itself as a large shrub, or a tree to around ten metres, the width is around two metres. The horticultural applications include use as a screening plant or hedge, or displayed as individual specimens. It is a fast growing and hardy species, frost resistant, bird attracting and has good potential as a feature plant.
Hakea petiolaris is recommended for the attractive appearance of its flowers and attraction for birds. Clusters of dullish red flowers, contrasted by white styles, are presented at the leaf axis in the austral autumn or winter. The plant is successfully grown in the urbanised sub-coastal regions of southern Australia.
Where it grows
Subspecies petiolaris grows in jarrah forest, usually near granite outcrops between the Darling Range and York in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hakea petiolaris 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.