The plumose flowers appear in compact groups, that spike out from the upper branch, beginning as white and turning to a deep red colour.

The open branched habit of these shrubs, especially those taller and environmentally secure specimens, give a straggly appearance with fewer flowers.

Drummond was collecting seed and specimens for the gardens of England and Europe, the colony's first resident botanical collector, and became so enthused by the appearance of the flowers that he filled his bags with them.

[2] When Alex George reviewed the genus Verticordia in 1991, he placed this species in subgenus Eperephes, section Pennuligera along with V. comosa, V. lepidophylla, V. chrysostachys,V.

[7] The specific epithet (grandis) is a Latin word meaning "large", "great" or "grand",[8] referring to the size of the plant, its leaves and flowers.

The species is found in heathland and open scrub of the region, an association with laterite has also been identified, and is distributed south of Geraldton and to the east at Three Springs.

[4] The species is not considered to be threatened by extinction, the root system making it tolerant of fire, disturbance, and physical damage, however, the large scale clearing of its range, for European agriculture, is presumed to have impacted on population and distribution in the Wheatbelt.

A single outlier at Dalwallinu, conserved on private property by a title deed, is thought to be a remnant of a wider and more eastern distribution.

Records of the species attracted to cultivated plants, when it has been grown locally, include the singing, little brown or New Holland honeyeaters, and the western spinebill.

[11] The large and bright red flowers of Verticordia grandis have been admired and harvested since its first discovery by Europeans, when Drummond noted its use as an adornment by the people of the region.

[2] The cut flower has a vase life of less than 10 days, shorter that other harvested verticordia, and is unresponsive to treatments that extend this period.

The development of micropropagation for the plant is expected after its successful genetic transformation in 1993, this was achieved using meristematic cells that were found to be present in the leaves.

[14] Verticordia are difficult to cultivate in moister environments, but success has been achieved with V. grandis (in Sydney) by using free draining soil in an open situation.