Callistemon

You should feel grateful enough to be able to grow any of the many glorious Australian evergreen shrubs that you don't ask for more. But if you were to do so, you greedy little botanophile you, this checks those extra few boxes that make it nigh irresistible. Having its origins on the high slopes of the eponymous mountain this Callistemon is exceptionally hardy, asking little in the way of water, and providing a palisade against voracious ungulates. Needle-like foliage, compact form, and cheery yellow bottlebrushes wraps up all that substance in a perfect bow of style. This is one princess that will have her cake and eat it too, egalitarianism be damned.

From the venerable plant at the UW Arboretum comes this promising bottle brush. The plant at the UW has weathered every fluke weather event in the last 20 years and emerged unscathed. Narrowly yet densely upright with pale yellow-white bottle brush flowers and evergreen needley leaves.

One of the hardiest Bottlebrushes to 10F with the added benefit of having red flowers. In growth, this tends to have graceful arching branches which softens what can sometimes be a rigid look to Callistemon. Not that that is a bad thing but this looks a bit more cuddly. This grows on stream banks in Australia and can take quite wet spots but is also tolerant of dry. Deer proof!

The flowers on this Australian bottlebrush are not for the faint of heart, while mildly referred to as lilac the screaming pink flowers are quite the statement, luckily the muted green to blue-green needle-like leaves pair very well providing a stolid year round grounding to its summertime rave scene excesses. Truly a fantastic group of shrubs that should be seen more in a vein similar to its oft-desired countrymen Grevillea especially in increasingly hot, dry, and/or deer-ridden areas. Let this be the bright colored scion to extoll the many virtues of its brethren. Hardy and adaptable in zone 8 and higher but potentially doable in colder climes if you don't mind a reset and reshoot every once in a while on the harsher years.

This clone of an already hardy bottlebrush species has been hardier than the typical offering by a few degrees and personally, our most grievous losses have been by a few degrees. This is likely from a higher and more exposed location in Tasmania as it is also more compact than typical and has handled one winter where it went into single digits. This is the PNW so that sort of thing doesn't last long but still, pretty damned good. Cream flowers and bark that gets white and corky with age and hey, the deer don't like it! Thanks to Ian at Desert Northwest for sharing this one.

Bottlebrush. Fun and very hardy selection that has willowy and twisting branchlets sporting 2" light yellow flower brushes on the branch tips all pointing willy-nilly for a wild Medusal effect. Length of bloom is longer on older plants so it is true that some things get better with age. I feel that way about Sue and another month o the diet, she'll feel the same about me.. Happy in nearly any soil and happiest with regular water. Not deer fodder.

Bottlebrush. Perhaps the hardiest clone enduring single digits with scarcely a whimper. (It may be whimpering but my own wails of despair drown all else out). Evergreen picking up russet tones in winter. Summer fuzzy red flowers on the stems. Deer Proof/drought tolerant.