GREVILLEA ‘LITTLE DRUMMER BOY’ (Grevillea lanigera)

Published on by Vicki
GREVILLEA ‘LITTLE DRUMMER BOY’ (Grevillea lanigera) – 28th August, 2010 – Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne

GREVILLEA ‘LITTLE DRUMMER BOY’ (Grevillea lanigera), or WOOLLY GREVILLEA, is one of my favourite early flower images made in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne.

…..and one of the most ‘stolen’ of my flower images.  I just found another 2 websites who have used this image without my permission.

Perhaps I should be flattered.

But why can’t people do me the curtesy of at least asking if they may use one of my images.

I’ve got about 7-8 images used by professional bodies (with my permission) or even a young street photographer who asked if  he could use one of my B & W images as the header on his website, (which surprised me as I’d have thought he would want to use one of his own, but he was just starting a website and has probably substituted one of his own by now).  I’m happy to share if people ask, but I do like to be asked first.

I do like people to at least credit me as the photographer too.

Anyway, this lovely woolly low-growing Grevillea is a great ground-cover endemic to the eastern coast of Australia.  It’s one of the ‘spider’ flowered Grevilleas.  It flowers in Winter and Spring and has really soft grey-green foliage.  It may be 8 1/2 years since I took this image with my first little Canon point & shoot – my first camera when I took up Photography as a hobby – but surprisingly, despite my novice status, I still think it’s one of the best flower photos I’ve made which shows great detail.

There are something like 350 Grevilleas which grow in every part of Australia, but I’ve only photographed about 5 different varieties.  The other 4 varieties I’ve got in my Grevillea folder are of the ‘toothbrush’ flowered Grevilleas.  The honeyeaters love their nectar.

They’re pretty drought-hardy and benefit from a light prune after flowering.

19 thoughts on “GREVILLEA ‘LITTLE DRUMMER BOY’ (Grevillea lanigera)”

    2. I agree Anne. The flower itself is quite small…..maybe about an inch in diameter, (and of course, it was photographed back in the day when I could bend down low 🙂 )

      Like

  5. That has to be the fanciest ground cover I’ve ever seen. I tried to find some information about its naming as ‘little drummer boy,’ but came up empty. What I did find is that it’s immensely popular. The list of places where the plants can be purchased went on for pages — and your post was smack in the middle of them, a sure sign of your page’s popularity!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It certainly is a great ground cover, but you need to be fairly close-up to appreciate the tiny flower. Since uploading this post, I actually remembered where in the RBG I made the original photo. It was on a waist-high rock retaining wall, which is why I was able to take such a good photo of the flower. I was able to rest my elbows on the rock wall and use it as a ‘tripod’ to steady the camera for some good sharp focus.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Great minds think alike, Terry. It’s one of my favourites 🙂 and i can’t resist sharing it again, now I’ve re-booted/deleted the archives, on this nature blog and have a proper index on the right hand side of the page.

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.