Grevillea aquifolium is mainly found in the Grampians, although not endemic. But, confined to a small area on the sides of Serra Road in the Victoria Valley is this beautiful prostrate form, which is found nowhere else, and so this form is endemic to the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park.

Growing along Serra Road it is only found where deep, damp sands support a Heathy Woodland ecosystem. Several other low forms of Grevillea aquifolium occur in the Grampians, however this is the only one that it is really prostrate.
It grows strongly in the garden given a well-drained site with some subsoil moisture for good growth, soon forming a dense prostrate mat up to 1.5–2 m across. Masses of lovely toothbrush flowers bloom for many months of the year peaking in winter-spring. The flowers open pale pink, becoming deeper red-pink as they mature. Honeyeaters find these flowers most attractive. A wonderful groundcover for attracting native birds into your garden.

Grevillea aquifolium ‘Serra Road Prostrate’ has attractive, quite bright green foliage, with attractive copper-pink new growth. A dense groundcover it is ideal for setting off other contrasting-coloured shrubs, while suppressing weeds and acting as a beautiful green mulch in the garden.

We planted some in our WAMA Botanical Gardens’ Grampians/Gariwerd Endemic Garden, three years ago, and already these plants are superb, flowering most of the year, and effectively keeping the roots of all adjoining plants cool all summer!
The plants at WAMA were collected through the Grampians with staff from Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne. They were found to strike well and have thrived in the well-drained sandy beds at WAMA. In fact, some plants have grown too well, and have had to be cut back to control their spread! They recovered beautifully from this heavy pruning, and were soon covered in beautiful new growth and many more flowers.

There are plans for the Pomonal Community Nursery to propagate this, and many other Grampians endemic plants for sale at the WAMA Gallery. This will become a valuable revenue base for the upkeep of the gardens, while at the same time, making these beautiful plants, more widely available for the home garden.