Anigozanthos ‘Landscape Gold’ is the star in my garden from late Spring into Summer.

This stunning variety is from the Tall and Tough range created by Angus Stewart, and those two words describe the uses for this Kangaroo Paw beautifully.

TALL

Anigozanthos Landscape Gold is a towering Kangaroo Paw. On the label it says it will grow 1 to 2 metres tall. When they describe height for a Kangaroo Paw they are talking about the height of the flower, not the height of the plant itself. In my garden the flowers are over 1.6 metres tall. It is also planted in a raised bed, making it a very imposing feature in full bloom!

The flowers stand tall and strong for many months. When you have just one or two flowers initially they can fall over so I will often cut off a bloom or two early on, but as the full spring flush happens all the flowers seem to support each other so they stand upright and proud in a towering crown of colour.

TOUGH

In the humid Sydney climate keeping kangaroo paws healthy can sometimes be a struggle. Many people buy the small ornamental varieties but they can suffer badly in this climate and are generally short lived. Many times I hear from people disappointed in kangaroo paws, saying they die quickly or suffer fungal and disease problems, the leaves blackening and the plant looking sick in no time at all after planting out. In my garden those problems can be exacerbated by the densely planted design that doesn’t allow much air flow around the plants.

In spite of this I do still have several happy kangaroo paws planted in the raised beds, and happiest among them is Landscape Gold. With all the others I have had issues at times with snail damage, leaf blackening, bleached blooms and one or two deaths. The small ornamental kangaroo paws are generally short lived and do best grown in pots. But Landscape Gold has sailed through extreme drought to flooding rains, overcrowding and humidity while looking bright green, unblemished and healthy the whole time. It is so uncomplicated, not fussy and a welcome relief from the plants I have to fret and fawn over.

If you can give it a raised bed and/or good drainage it will be happiest like any paw, but it will shrug off almost any kind of planting abuse you throw at it, so long as you give it a good feed in spring and summer and a good cut back in late summer or autumn.

SPECTACULAR

Most of all, Landscape Gold will reward you with a display of flowers that is spectacular and a striking and memorable garden feature. I think the range should be re-named Tall, Tough and Spectacular. It forms a mass of towering flowers decorated in a striking two-tone ‘fuzz’ of brightest yellow with vibrant red accents bejewelled with happy green ‘crowns’ as they open. I should say if you cut the dead flowers it will keep delivering more, but even without doing that the flowers are long lived, looking good for many months, no matter the weather.

I hope you find room for one in your garden!