Leucadendron galpinii Purple Haze - Conebush

The Leucadendron galpinii 'Purple Haze' is a South African evergreen bush with an original and decorative flowering in small silver cones, whose foliage turns silvery purple in winter. It is a cousin of the proteas with a very exotic charm, but not very hardy and with a somewhat delicate cultivation: it will be welcomed in the most sheltered gardens on the coast, in the sun, in sandy or very well drained acid soil.  Elsewhere, cultivation in pots allows control over the nature of the soil and shelter for the young plant in winter.

The Leucadendron 'Purple Haze' comes from the Leucadendron galpinii, a large bush native to the Western Cape, in South Africa. In nature, this botanical species is found in valleys surrounded by limestone hills, on fairly deep, poor, sandy-loamy soils, with a neutral pH. In the Cape region, leucadendrons are an essential part of the fynbos vegetation, a thin coastal and mountainous area characterised by a Mediterranean climate. These bushes are dioecious, i.e. there are male and female plants.

The Galpin Leucadendron is a woody and ramified plant from the proteaceae family. The cultivar 'Purple Haze' is a female clone who measures about 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in) in height and 90 cm (35.4 in) in spread in the open ground and under favourable conditions. Its growth is quite fast. The erect stems carry simple and thick leaves, arranged in a spiral, narrowly elliptical in shape, covered with silky hair. From grey-green-blue in spring to autumn, they turn purple to violet in winter under the effect of the cold. The bush produces, from March to June depending on the climate, scaly inflorescences in the shape of small cones, silver in colour, surrounded by a collar of small bracts with a sharp point, thick and leathery, more or less tinted with violet. These flowers are very popular in floristry, due to their excellent durability in a vase.

The Leucadendron galpinii 'Purple Haze' is an exotic plant that does not leave you indifferent. It can be planted in the open ground only in coastal gardens spared by severe frosts, in light soil with a sandy tendency, low in nitrates and phosphorus. It will be a sensation as a single plant or even in the background of flower beds in a dry garden. In an exotic-inspired setting, it can be combined with Dasylirion, Grevillea, Callistemon, with the Canary Island Viperine, with palm trees or with Leptospermum. In a less favourable climate, the collector of exotic plants can cultivate it in a pot to be overwintered like a citrus.