Rising Sun Conebush

Wed, 08/12/2009 - 8:27am — Kathy Ormiston

Photo Credit:

Kathy Ormiston, PADG

Botanical Name:

Leucadendron 'Rising Sun'

Pronunciation:

(lew-kuh-DEN-dron)

Common Name:

Rising Sun Conebush

Plant Type:

Shrub

Mature Size:

6 ft. to 8 ft. tall and wide

Water Requirements:

Low: water every 3 weeks until the root ball is wet

Sun/Shade Requirements:

Full sun

Flower Color :

Red

Leucadendron 'Rising Sun', a South African native, has beautiful reddish stems and terminal bracts (colorful flower-like leaves toward the end of a stem). In our water-wise garden 'Rising Sun' is a garden focal point during the winter.

We like the cultivar 'Rising Sun' because of its subtle coloring. From a design perspective, the brash colors of the some Leucadendron cultivars can be hard to incorporate into a garden.

Some Leucadendron can be frost tender but we have not had any problems with frost damage in the Palo Alto Demonstration Garden.

This Leucadendron has stayed small, so we have not had to prune it. The Leucadendron in our demonstration garden may have stayed small because the plant is on top of a gravel mound and receives limited water.

Removed from the Garden:

We recently removed Rising Sun from the Palo Alto Demonstration Garden because it had a bizarre twisting way of growing that we did not find attractive.