Yeah not looking too good Pal, Aussie natives, and I reckon even South Africans, (leucadendrons) can be difficult outside of their native habitat. Having said that both of those like similar conditions; neutral to slightly acidic soil, excellent drainage, and they hate root disturbance. In fact you can easily over care for them - both are very tolerant of dry conditions. Many also are not happy in humid conditions. Lime, by the way, will yellow the leaves and eventually kill them so I reckon the first thing Id do is check the ph. in the soil. Oh, and if you feed them use only fertilisers suitable for Aussie natives, and use it sparingly. Other than that good luck with 'em B.

You're having a bad time, aren't you Penny? Have you been fertilising? If you have been, stop it at once! As Mallee points out in reply to your banksia question, fertiliser can be poisonous to some natives, expecially those in the Proteaceae family, which include banksias, grevilleas and waratahs. Some people fertilise those plants with a special native fertiliser, which, if sparingly used, can hurry up young plants a bit. However there's no real need to fertilise native plants at all. If you have fertilised your potted grevillea it may be possible to flush some of the excess phosphorus out of the soil by lifting the pot so the water can run out the bottom easily, and then watering generously. Mallee's other point about poor quality water is another good one. Have you been using water polluted with detergent? If you are in a position to use rainwater only on your Proteaceae it's a good idea. Can you use bore or townwater where you are? If you are restricted to greywater, you could try keeping a jug beside the sink where you put the detergent-free water (such as the rinse-water from the teapot). Trish

could it be that black sooty mould? if so that is commonly caused by scale insect and/or mealy bugs, and they are commonly bought to the plant by ants. mealy bugs easy spot they are little whitish furry bugs around near the growing tip, scale look like hard little pimply lumps also around near the growing tip. if it is the above you need to control the ants first then make a white oil solution (homemade is easy) and spray the infected area with that after the heat of the sun. it has been very dry of late that is when ants become more prevelant, also with your callistemon problem because of the dry (low humidity) could it be spider mite? if so they are easy to control just introduce some mist watering around the foliage area to increase humidity keeping a bucket of water under each plant will also help the humidity. in both cases if the problem is too bad a prune up to remove all infected tip end wouldn't be out of the question, just be sure to destroy the prunings don't compost them or hold them on site. len Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Grevillea olivacea does well west of Toowoomba, where the soil pH is 7 or more, which has made me wonder whether it's a bit of an exception to the "prefer acid soils" rule. Does anyone else know this? I'd like to know what the pH was, before recommending adding sulphur and acidifying mulch. A healthy G. robusta would seem to be an indicator that it's acid enough. It may be hating the daily watering regime, too. And if you've fertilised, the Grevilleas may be a lost cause, as it's hard to remove phosphorus once it's been added. (G. robusta is phosphorus tolerant, however.) But as lillypilly says, the most likely cause is the clay soil. Raised beds with imported sandy soil might give you more success. But is it worth it? Growing plants to suit the soil can be altogether more rewarding than trying to modify the soil to suit the plants. Best of luck Trish.