Winter has sprung, with the appearance of flowers on the striking Red Spider-flower (Grevillea oleoides)!

European cultural traditions suggest that flowers mostly come out in spring, with a strong annual pattern, and that's all well and good. But so many Australian plants, including many from the Illawarra region, flower at other times of the year.

The Red Spider-flower is known for its colourful winter flowers, providing food for nectar-feeding birds at a time of year when many other plants are in their 'off season'.

A woody, often leggy, shrub, Red Spider-flower typically reaches 1.5m to 2m in height, with a variable form and generally upright habit. It is very much a plant of the Hawkesbury Sandstone plateau, west of the escarpment cliffs, and can be seen on local walks in areas such as Sublime Point and Bulli Tops.

This soil preference means it is unpredictable when grown in local gardens, on clay or volcanic soils. It is sometimes strange-shaped and often short-lived. It does, however, do better than many plant species of the Hawkesbury Sandstone, and if you really wanted to grow an Illawarra Grevillea, this is one you could try.  

Red Spider-flower is a particular favourite of Eastern Spinebills, small honeyeaters that are often to be seen pottering among the flowers, using their long, narrow, curved bills to access nectar without damaging the flowers' structure. It does also tend to bring in Noisy Miner birds, though, and these larger, quite aggressive honeyeaters can drive smaller birds of all sorts away from gardens. 

Want to see more local grevilleas? Check out this sneak peek at Bulli beauties ahead of Illawarra Grevillea Park Botanic Garden spring open days on the first two weekends of September.