Can someone ID this plant/bush? (PIPs)

[mrs.jacinthe]

The bush in question.  We gave it a MAJOR haircut just prior to this photo because it looked like Don King on a bad hair day.  It's some kind of evergreen.  VERY sharp needles.  Flowers that bees LOVE.  Contact with it makes R itchy (like, little raised red bumps everywhere).  It doesn't bother me at all, but I'm not allergic to poison ivy or oak, either.

A close-up of the flowers and needles:



We live in NorCal, east of Sacramento, zone 9b (edited to correct, thanks to USDA website).  It thrives here, and certainly hasn't gotten any attention from the previous owners.

[Deleted]

Grevillea? I went through my Sunset book, and it seems to match. P.S., everyone I know here uses Sunset zones. I think USDA zones are less than useless here

There's a section here about allergic reactions to it: anpsa.org.au/grev3a.html

ETA: This purports to be a picture of an unpruned version of Canberra Gem:



Is that what it looked like?  The pic of the Canberra Gem flower looks very similar to yours to me.

[mrs.jacinthe]

@juno - I think that's it! It's a great plant, very pretty, and seems to have done well without any attention at all, but DANG, there's a LOT of it. I talked to the garden center this morning and they sell a dwarf version we can replace it with, though - much more in line with that section of the yard.

[Deleted]

Yes, it looks like it would be OK if it could be set back a few feet, but the current locale is definitely bad. I like the unpruned look better than the sheared look, so getting one that fits would be good. It's an Aussie native, and those usually do well in our arid summers. You might also be able to find a CA native that would do as well. Penstemon maybe? It's not a bush, but the bees like it and it does well without water; it doesn't necessarily look like you would want something really high there anyway. You might also be able to do some berry bushes if you wanted some edibles and don't mind watering.

I've had good luck getting rid of unwanted plants on freecycle. I'm not sure if such a big one would survive transplant, but it might.