Banksia baueri - Teddy Bear Banksia - 10 seeds

Banksia bauerii, commonly known as the Possum Banksia is one of WA's beautiful Banksias and is found in the south east of Western Australia on the southern coast and inland primarily on open sand heaths on deep yellow or white sands with an annual rainfall of 350 to 650mm.

It is a dense, domed and well-branched shrub to some 2m in height and 3m wide.  It is distinctive because of the huge soft furry flower spikes.

It has smooth surfaced, rigid, prickly serrated leaves from 7 to 10cm in length and 10 to 20mm wide.

The flower spikes are the largest of all the Banksias - 15 to 40cm by 12 to 18cm cylinders, lemon yellow at the base with long woolly grey/mauve tips.  Flower spikes are upright on the branches on the old wood and is a long flowering species that flowers throughout Winter and Spring.

Like all Banksias, it is excellent for attracting honey eating birds.

In cultivation it favours light acid to neutral soils, once established it needs little attention.  Its dense ground cover makes it a good plant for windbreaks, it's drought tolerant and moderately frost hardy, however it is suited to cultivation in areas with a dry Summer climate and can be difficult to maintain in areas of high Summer humidity.

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 practicable to avoid too much root disturbance and plant into well drained soil with an acidic pH of around 6.0 to 6.5.  Phosphorous fertilisers are toxic to the plant as it can take up even the smallest traces of this element.

10 premium quality seeds shipped on receipt of cleared funds.