Growing Proteas is easy as long as you follow a few simple rules. It is important to ensure your Proteas have adequate drainage. Proteas prefer a nice sandy loam or open soil. Some Proteas are less fussy and are quite happy in a heavier soil although they will not survive in heavy clay soils. If you do have heavy soils it will be necessary to first mound the soil to improve it and then dig in compost and gypsum to break up any residual clay.

I had success germinating protea seeds by giving them smoke treatment first. You can buy papers that have been saturated in a smoke solution from some seed sellers, and you soak one of those in water overnight along with the seeds.

Then I planted those seeds 1/4 inch deep in cactus potting soil, and put them in our coldroom. They started coming up in 17 days, and most of them germinated.

You don't absolutely need the smoke treatment, though it is good. Just mash up some semi-burnt barbecue charcoal with the sowing compost.