Lambertia formosa in a Brisbane Garden

Jan Sked

Lambertia formosa (Mountain Devil or Honey Flower) is again in its late summer flowering. It flowers spasmodically all year round, but has its most prolific showing in late January and February.

This is one of my oldest shrubs, having been bought some 15 years ago. At the time I was advised that L. formosa was difficult to establish in Brisbane gardens, but my heart was set on growing this plant, which brought back memories of happy holidays spent in the bushland of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, where it grows quite prolifically. I planted it against the wall of the house facing east and mulched the area with pebbles. My plant never looked back and it had its first flowering six months later.

L. formosa is a stiff little shrub with hard, dark green leaves, about 5 cm long, armed with a very sharp point. The red tubular flowers are in erect clusters surrounded by long red and green bracts. These flowers are rich in honey and attractive to nectar-feeding birds. The curiously shaped woody seed follicles look like devils' heads and these are sometimes mounted on pipe cleaners and sold in souvenir shops to tourists, especially at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.

This is a plant that appears to have few, if any, natural enemies, at least in my garden. It has not received any artificial watering or fertilizers, and the only special attention it receives is some pruning from time to time, which does it the world of good. As it grows naturally in an area that is subject to bushfires, pruning seems to me to be the logical treatment to rejuvenate this plant.