THE bottlebrushes, or callistemons, are putting on a great show in the garden.
There are many reasons why you should have one.
Most are extremely hardy and once established seem to thrive in the dry of the summer, yet tolerate wetter soil in winter.
They are often used by councils for street planting, and light up the roadsides on many major highways at this time of the year.
Callistemons can vary from a large tree to a small spreading shrub.
Take care to select one that suits the location you are going to plant it in.
Bottlebrushes can also be trimmed to form hedges, topiary and other shapes.
This encourages a bushier habit and consequently more blooms per plant. So it is wise to trim back bottlebushes each year when they finish flowering.
Trim off the older flowers so that they don't try to set woody seed pods and then trim to shape.
This will keep the plant looking good and flowering prolifically each year.
Flower power
THE flowers are attractive to our native birds. Once attracted to the garden, these birds have a role in keeping the insect pest population down.
Some of the larger bottlebrushes are in the callistemon salignus and C. viminalis group and can easily grow to 6m high and 4-5m wide.
Callistemon salignus makes a lovely specimen and shade tree with its papery bark and the new leaf growth is a soft pink tone.
Flower colour varies between cream, pink and red. They usually appear in late spring into early summer.
Callistemon viminalis and its cultivars tend to have a more weeping habit and dark red bottlebrushes.
For more shrubby forms to hedge or use as a windbreak try callistemon pinifolius, which has a green flowered form.
Or try callistemon violaceus with its deep purplish-red brushes, callistemon citrinus with bright red flowers, or the soft lemon brushes of callistemon pallidus.
For rockeries and massed displays you can select the white flowered callistemon, Anzac, which rarely exceeds a metre high by a couple of metres wide.
