Grevillea 'Kings Fire' PP27,875 (Kings Park Red Grevillea) - A medium size spreading shrub to 5 to 6 feet tall with white stems and soft gray-green dissected leaves. Nearly year-round appear the 5-inch-long toothbrush type flower flowers that emerge from whitish buds along the upper side of the inflorescence. The individual flowers emerge first with the recurved styles a deep red color but lightening to orange-red as they straighten with shorter stamen bearing tepals remaining a dark red - very attractive!
Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil and give infrequent to occasional irrigation. Our experience with other grevillea is avoid fertilizers that contain phosphorus and keep an eye on foliage color for signs of chlorosis that can be treated with acidifying agents or chelated iron. This plant should prove hardy to 20-25° F. One parent is of coastal origins and this plant should prove itself a good candidate for near the seashore, but this has yet to be fully tested. It does great in containers or in the landscape and is a favorite of hummingbirds.
We began trialing Grevillea 'Kings Fire', Grevillea 'Kings Celebration' and Grevillea 'Kings Rainbow' in 2015 and noted through the trial period that these plants are strong performers with very attractive foliage and flowers. The gray leafed Grevillea 'Kings Fire' and green leafed Grevillea 'Kings Celebration' with similar flowers are the more vigorous of the series and 'Kings Fire', with its softer foliage, heavier flowering over a longer period (we rarely see it without some flowers!) has become our personal favorite of this first group. In 2019 another very attractive cultivar, Grevillea 'Spirit of ANZAC', with larger bicolored flowers and grey-green foliage was added to the collection and in 2023 the beautiful orange flowering Grevillea 'Kings Sunrise' came onboard.
These cultivars are the result of a breeding program conducted by Digby Growns at Plant Development at Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth, Western Australia. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Grevillea cultivars that have large inflorescences with attractive colors. This series made its debut in North America through Ball Horticulture & Star Roses & Plants in 2016 and described as having "exotic looking blooms that flower year-round in Southern California." Grevillea 'King's Fire' is the result of crossing a selected form of Grevillea nivea as the female seed parent with the male pollen parent Grevillea 'Crowning Glory', a plant also known as 'Lasseter's Gold', that is reported to be a hybrid between Grevillea formosa and G. 'Honey Gem', itself a garden hybrid thought perhaps to be a cross between G. pteridifolia and a red form of G. banksii. Grevillea nivea is a fairly recently described species that was separated from the Grevillea tetragonoloba complex in 2009 and prior to this it was called Grevillea tetragonoloba "Race B" or referred to as Grevillea 'Scarlet King' that is known to be a moderately vigorous semi-upright growing plant with red-colored flowers while the pollen parent 'Crowning Glory' has a trailing habit and medium yellow-colored flowers.
'King's Fire was selected from this cross in 2012 and received US Plant Patent PP27,875 in April 2016. This cultivar was released in Australia in 2016 (after the US release) under the name Grevillea 'Scarlet Moon' - information about this Australian release can be found on the website of the Friends of Kings Park. We have grown this attractive plant since 2016.
The information about Grevillea 'Kings Fire' PP27,875 displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include 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 we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |