This Rainbow Lorikeet tucks into some Blue Quandong nectar despite the rain

The blue fruits and red fallen leaves of the blue Quandong lie thick on the ground

When I hear the Rainbow Lorikeets squabbling even louder than usual outside my kitchen window I know the Blue Quandong (Elaeocarpus grandis, aka Elaeocarpus angustifolius) is in flower.

And what flowers they are – great masses of bell-shaped white blossom, each fringed at the bottom like a lampshade, or the dress of a tiny ballerina. They don’t always come out every year so when they do we take a particular delight in them, just like the lorikeets and other nectar-feeders.

This year the flowering is particularly abundant and though it’s easy to attribute this to a good wet season we’ve had similar prolonged drenching in other summers and yet the Blue Quandong doesn’t reward us with flowers.

After the flowers come the fruits and in a good fruiting year theses, too, are a spectacle. Large, round and of a blue so bright and clear it’s impossible to compare it with anything else in nature, the fruits litter the ground and provide a feast for all sorts of creatures – rodents and ground-dwelling birds. Pigeons love them too, and take them before they drop. The fruits have little taste because the flesh is thin; nonetheless they were a popular food with Australian Aborigines back in the day, and it is from them we get the name “quandong”. Pioneers of European stock sometimes used them to make jam and pies, when times were desperate.

This tree has a further aesthetic gift to offer; the long, serrate leaves turn a bright red when ready to drop and have a varnished look. This happens mainly in late winter and spring, coinciding with fruiting, and the sight of the bright red leaves and vivid blue fruit is quite something.
Blue Quandong grows into too large a tree for the average home garden because it throws out very long, spreading branches. It’s a handsome tree, though, and worth growing if you have the room. If not, try one of the several smaller-growing elaeocarpuses such as E.foveolatus, E. ferruginiflorus, E. holopetalus, E. eumundii or the darling little Blueberry Ash ( E. reticulatus). All have their slightly different attractions.

CULTIVATION
This is one of the easiest plants to grow from seed because the large kernels germinate fast and easily. Growth rate continues to be rapid and the tree can reach a good size within ten years.
Position: Anywhere in the garden, but well away from any infrastructure as roots are invasive and the long, long branches are a nuisance if allowed to overhang gutters. Leaf and fruit drop should also be considered – don’t plant too close to a driveway.

Watering: This is a tree from high rainfall areas but it will take at least 90 days without any rain or artificial watering once established with its roots down into the water table. Water well in the first couple of years after planting.

Feeding: Not really necessary but you can add any kind of balanced fertilizer at seedling and sapling stage to increase growth.

Pruning: YES! Blue Quandong tends to develop its side branches in layers out from the main stem; internodes are long and leaves born at the end of the branches, with an upright growth habit. Prune regularly when young, just cutting back the growing tips of the top and side branches about twice a year to promote a more compact, dense and bushy form. Flowering (and thus fruiting) may not occur until the tree is at least seven years old, sometimes not until 10 years old.

Propagation: As stated, fast and reliable. Some people have good success by just taking the fruits and planting them in a growing mix. I usually wash them first to remove any grubs, then peel away the flesh and crack the kernel within, to speed things up. Expect germination from 4 – 8 weeks. Other Elaeocarpus species are much slower to propagate.

You can also propagate from ripe top-of-the-stem cuttings.