Bottlebrush (Callistemon) Bottlebrush (Callistemon) is an outstanding flowering shrub/small tree. These tough garden plants, with many new varieties available, are the result of intensive hybridisation by the nursery industry. Most of them are red, but now you can grow pink, mauve, cream and white varieties of bottlebrush.
Care: Give them as much sunshine as possible for fabulous quantities of flower. They have their main flowering in spring then lesser flowering through summer and autumn. Prune by cutting off the spent flowers just below the flower. This will result in increased branching giving you a fuller plant and more flowers in autumn. Callistemon love moisture and will send their roots looking into pipes and drains, so plant at least 3m away from pipes.
Use in the garden: They make a compact screen to hide ugly fences or views. They bring the birds and bees into your garden. Planted singly or in rows they will impress with their clean upright growth to 1.5m by 1m wide in most situations. As mentioned above the straight branches can be used to good effect in floral arrangements. If planted into a large pot one would need to take real care that the soil never dried out.
Our favourites: Look for these varieties at your local nursery. 'Kings Park Special' ... grows 3 – 5m with brilliant red brushes about 10cms long. 'Wilderness White' … grows 3m with cream/white brushes. 'Burgundy Jack' … grows 3m with dark plum coloured brushes. 'Pink Champagne' … grows 3m with pale pink brushes (pictured) 'Taree Pink' … grows 2 – 3 m with vibrant pink flowers 'Hot Pink' ... Hot pink flowers, Compact to suit smaller areas (pictured) 'White Anzac' ... Pure White flowers, A scrambling shrub 1m tall and 3m wide.
Powered By WEBHEAD