The low, cascading growth habit of Australian native Grevillea ‘Drummer Boy’ makes it ideal for hanging over walls, planting as a ground cover on banks and among rocks and contrasting with bolder, taller shrubs and trees. The foliage is always attractive and during the lengthy flowering spell through autumn and winter is an excellent foil to the intriguing and attractive red flowers. Planted in groups, so the plants join together when mature, Grevillea ‘Drummer Boy’ forms a most attractive ground cover, so dense that no annual weeds will have a hope of establishing. Used as a foreground to some of the taller growing, remarkably free flowering Grevilleas such as ‘Robin Hood’, which has large red toothbrush-like flowers for month after month, you can have a shrub border which is bright and colourful and virtually looks after itself.

Other shrubs with attractive foliage and generously lengthy flowering habits to grow in behind Grevillea ‘Drummer Boy’ include the bushy, compact growing relative of the pohutukawa, Metrosideros ‘Tahiti’. For foliage combinations, you can conjure up a good deal of appeal by bringing Hypocalymma ‘Golden Veil’ or Nandina ‘Gulfstream’ into the equation. The latter develops its best orange foliage colours when it’s growing in the sort of tough dry situations that ‘Drummer Boy’ delights in.

‘Drummer Boy’ is also the sort of tough yet fun plant which can be grown as a cheerful note at the letterbox, especially in sun baked situations where plants of a less sturdy nature would struggle.