The Beautiful Flannel Flower
 by Melanie Kinsey

I'm not sure when my fascination with Flannel Flowers began, but as I walked down the aisle on a special day some years ago, Flannel Flowers featured heavily in my bouquet! They decorate the tiles in our bathroom, photos and pictures adorn the walls in our home and my mother-in-law, knowing of my love for them, hand-stitched for me a beautiful likeness on fabric. The Flannel Flower is Actinotus helianthii and this translates literally from the Greek aktinos (a ray), helios (the sun) and anthos (a flower). In some ways they do look like a miniature sun flower with the petals or more correctly bracts resembling the rays of the sun.

The Flannel Flower is a wildflower from the sandstone country around Sydney and it occurs in Queensland too. For many years it has had a reputation for being hard to grow and indeed, in one Melbourne nursery, plants come labelled "I'm a Fusspot!" For this reason it is often recommended to grow them in a pot where, even with the best of care, they might last 3 or 4 years as they are, after all, a short-lived perennial. Plenty of seed is usually produced however and if left undisturbed, seedlings should duly come up around the parent plant.

My first attempt at growing Flannel Flowers was in an old wine barrel with some other Australian native plants. The barrel was situated on the sunny but sheltered front porch of the home we were renting at the time. The plants were in a quality potting mix fertilised with a slow release fertiliser suitable for Australian native plants (low in phosphorus). In this situation they did really well shooting up to about 50cm tall and producing lots of starry, cream-coloured blooms with the texture of flannel - hence the common name - over spring and summer. Each flower was about 6cm wide and they lasted for weeks. In some ways they reminded me a bit of the European Edelweiss. The leaves of the Flannel Flower are a soft grey-green and are deeply divided.

If you wish to grow these beautiful plants in your garden you will have to provide them with all the comforts of home. They do best in a poor sandy soil with perfect drainage and Wrigley and Fagg¹ even recommend placing a few chunks of sandstone around the plant in order to stop the roots from drying out. Actinotus helianthii grow naturally in woodland so appreciate full sun but with some protection from strong winds and probably from frosts too.

Another species of the Flannel Flower is Actinotus minor which I came across for the first time a few weeks ago while camping in the Lane Cove River National Park in Sydney.  This is a tiny plant no more than 20cm high producing the most delightful fairy-like blooms less than 1cm across. Western Australia also has two species A. leucocephalus and A. superbus both with fuzzy or hairy bracts.

As part of the Centenary of Federation celebrations this year, each state was asked to nominate a floral emblem for the year. New South Wales nominated the Flannel Flower as it had featured as a border around the invitation to federation celebrations in 1901. Researchers at the Mt. Annan Botanic Gardens near Camden selected three forms of the Flannel Flower that are more disease resistant, quite compact and very hardy. Two of these forms have made it through to production and 'Starbright' will be available in October with 'Parkes Star' being available in November throughout the state. For the rest of us, try asking at your nearest Australian native plant specialist and if they don't have them, they may order them in for you.

For more facts on Flannel Flowers and the new forms 'Starbright' and 'Parkes Star' visit the website of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney at www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au and click on NSW Centenary of Federation Flower.

¹Wrigley and Fagg "Australian Native Plants" Angus and Robertson, 1992

Illustrations from top to bottom:
1. With the Flannel Flowers in this bouquet are dryandras, everlastings and gum leaves.
2. Actinotus helianthii - These flowers were growing near Terrigal in N.S.W. and were flowering in October.
3. Against a sky of blue, the Flannel Flower makes a striking study.
4. The flowers of 'Starbright' are produced on a hardy, disease resistant, compact plant. Photo: Jaime Plaza, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

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