Banksia media - Dwarf Golden Stalk Banksia - 10 seeds

Banksia media, commonly known as the Golden Stalk Banksia, is one of the Western Australian Banksias, occurring midway along the southern coast from the Stirling Ranges to Israelite Bay.  It often grows in dense thickets on the sand plains but also grows on a variety of soils including crumbly clay and coastal limestone and annual rainfall is 500 to 600mm.  This is one of the easiest of the Banksia to cultivate and unlike most, it will tolerate fairly alkaline soils. 
 
Golden Stalk is a medium to large shrub from between 2 and 4m in height and is dense and leafy to ground level, although it does grow to sea level and with the impact of winds and salt spray it normally only reaches 1m but spreads to as much as 4m in width.
 
Leaves are from 6 to 15cm long and 2cm in width, mid-green, smooth on the top with fine yellow/brown hairs on the underside.  The leaf margins are serrated with small evenly spaced teeth, younger branches are coated with dense whitish hairs which can give the plant an attractive hoary appearance.
 
Flowers are a bright creamy yellow darkening with age, cylindrical spikes from 12 to 20cm in length and 8 to 10cm in diameter, they are erect, terminal and displayed prominently. 
 
The fruit cones are the same size and shape as the flowers with the thick smooth dark brown follicles virtually hidden by the remains of the flowers which turn a bright bronze colour before ageing to grey.
 
As with all Banksias, this species is nectar producing and is popular with nectar seeking birds and bees and is a good honey species.
 
Propagation is from seed is straightforward, seed should be sown into a standard seed raising mix and watered as required.  Plant out young seedlings as soon as practical to avoid too much root disturbance, plant into light well drained soil with a pH of around 6.5 to 7.0.  Phosphorous fertilisers are toxic to the plant as it can take up even the smallest traces of this element. 
 
This is a fast growing species with flowering occurring while very young at 2 to 3 years of age, all in all an outstanding ornamental shrub.
 
10 premium quality seeds shipped on receipt of cleared funds.