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Hakea bucculenta (Red Pokers) - Large upright bushy shrub that can reach 8 to 15 feet tall by 9 feet wide but is usually much smaller in cultivation. It has 10-inch-long bright green narrow linear leaves and tapered upward spikes (axillary racemes) to 10 inches long of red flowers in late winter into spring that are mostly held on older wood but the leaves are so thin that the flowers are quite evident within the canopy. The fruit that follows are gray and in clusters.
Plant in full sun and irrigate only occasionally to very little once established. It requires VERY good soil drainage without mulch around its base and is cold hardy to 20° F. Lightly prune to shape but do trim into hard wood. This plant is described as one of the most ornamental of the Hakea. It is a great specimen plant for gardens with well-draining soils and also is attractive to nectar feeding birds and bees.
Red Pokers grows in sandy soils in the northern sand plains from Geraldton to Shark Bay in Western Australia, often in thickets. The name for the genus honors Baron Christian L. von Hake, a 18th and 19th century German patron of botany and the specific epithet meaning full-cheeked comes from the Latin word 'bucca' meaning a cheek and the suffix '-ulentus' indicating a marked development in reference to the swollen fruit which are rarely seen in cultivation. Image on this page courtesy of Jo O'Connell of Australian Native Plant Nursery.
This information about Hakea bucculenta displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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