Tasmania

Waratah.  This evergreen shrub in the Proteaceae hails from Tasmania and is a showstopper. Telopea is from the Greek telopos meaning “seen from afar” which perfectly describes the magnificent clustered red flowers quite unlike anything else we can grow here in the PNW and which are produced at the ends of gently ferruginous and leafy twigs. We were highly reluctant to chance planting out this hard-to-come-by beauty as we were quite sure our winter weather forays into 10F would be a terminal adventure.  Were we ever wrong!  It has come through the last 6 winters without a whimper and only a few nominal bits of leaf damage from the January 2025 Great Winnowing epic plunge.  And deer resistant as if it needs further accolades – we have resolved to never garden without it.  Sensitive to higher levels of phosphorous so go low in your NPK ratio.  Some shade in hot sun areas.  Young cutting-grown plants best protected at least for their first winter.