Plant Doctor Archive

Leucadendron flowers rotting

WE have a yellow leucadendron which is about four years old and 1m x 1m. It grows well and develops many flower heads, but only a few of them open. The rest go brown and rot away. It's growing in partial shade and we don't feed it. Can you help?

LEUCADENDRONS put on their best show in hot, sunny, open positions. In the shade the bracts and flower buds can suffer from rot brought on by prolonged dampness, so your plant will probably improve if you can expose it to more light and fresh air. They don't transplant at all well, so the only other alternative is to prune back the plants growing nearby to try to open up the area and let in more sun and fresh air to the leucadendron.

You're doing the right thing by not feeding it, as the root system can be easily damaged by too much fertiliser.

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH.