Grevillea baileyana

White oak, Grevillea baileyana, is the rainforest grevillea, a tall, clean-trunked North Queensland native whose deep green leaves flash bronze-gold from their felted undersides with every movement of air. In spring and early summer the canopy carries sprays of scented cream-white flowers.

In the landscape

Established as a street and avenue tree in tropical Queensland and increasingly specified further south as a specimen or upper-storey screen. The two-toned foliage reads beautifully against dark backdrops and in afternoon light, and the flowers draw nectar-feeding birds.

Growing notes

• Climate: tropical and subtropical Queensland into warm coastal New South Wales; frost tender when young, tolerating only light frost once established
• Evergreen, fast growing in warmth
• Soil: deep, free-draining soils; mulch and steady moisture through establishment
• Mature size in the ground: typically 8–15 m in cultivation, taller in rainforest
• Juvenile foliage deeply lobed, maturing to entire leaves; bird attracting

This tree

• Currently standing: 32 trees
• Field-grown ex-ground at Donkin Farm, Utchee Creek, root-pruned and basket-lifted, delivered and craned Australia-wide; price on application through the Shortlist