Artwork 34 Royal Hakea with Sunset Moon

This magnificent plant can grow to the height of a tall person, and about a metre in width, with cabbage-like clusters of spiky leaves which vary in colour from brilliant yellow-green in the first year, aging to bright orange, red, and purple in succeeding years. It has been called one of the world’s most beautiful foliage plants, and it is my favourite Australian native plant. Tiny cream and pink flower clusters can be discovered by looking closely at the base of the leaves where woody globular fruits also form. Unfortunately, it is hard to grow, and can be found naturally only in a very restricted area of coastal south-western Western Australia. We found them at the Fitzgerald River National Park, in the mid-1990s, looking healthy and vibrantly colourful, and were sad to see them obviously suffering by 2000 from dieback (Phytophthora)—a soil-borne disease that infects roots and prevents them from taking up water and nutrients, eventually killing the plant. It is unclear what factors are involved in plants developing a full range of leaf colours, but few succeed in doing so in cultivation. One South Australian grower expressed frustration at only succeeding in producing yellow and green leaf clusters, although the plant was large and healthy.