Callistemon (Bottle Brush Shrub) help

I am down to just 6 different Callistemons now having lost Viminalis, White Anzac, Pinnifolia and Violaceous. and I'm not sure how they are going to grow on the sandy poor, dry soil here, time (and a some bags of soil improver) will tell.

 

I have C.Rigidus & C.Pallidus in the propagator at the moment with seed I picked up on my hols in Tasmania - second attempt as I managed to kill the first lot off by taking them out of the propagator too early. Not that I needed to go all that way, I could have picked up the seeds from JungleSeeds with is about 10 miles away...

 

I could have sent you thousands of Pallidus seeds before I moved, left the plants there. I only have two seedlings of my own now.
I still have loads of seed capsules on my C Salignus and Mauve Mist.

 

I've actually given up on bottlebrush, even the small leaved hardy red one only just survives these days.
I grew some for a number of years before the hard winters struck.

 

Nick, I find that Callistemon rigidus and subulatus will actually germinate in standing water. I had some seeds off one of my plants and just threw the seeds into a pot with no drainage in.. come the next Spring, the pot was completely flooded, but these Callistemon seedling were growing fast everywhere.. so you have to think they like a good dose of water.. perhaps even standing water.

 

my mom had 2 in Johannesburg south africa .... they always looked good ...

Johannesburg winters often get to minus 5- minus 6 degrees C with lots of frost

only difference is that winters there are dry (it only rains in summer/spring), so this could be the key

plant them in an area close to a wall that shields some or most of the winter rain?

 

Thats pretty much what the chap selling the seeds told me - the common ones should be pretty hardy & the chances of them surviving a cold winter is increased if you make sure they are dry at the roots going into winter. Shouldnt be a problem around here if the last couple of years are anything to go by.

 

I will always have lots of seed but I have never collected it ... so if anyone wants any please let me know.

 

I'm tending to think we are back on the old territory here *dim*.

After a minus 6 nightime in Johannesburg what would the daytime temperature be?
Here you would be lucky if it got above zero in December or January.

I agree planting close to a house wall is probably the only chance they have in most parts of the UK since the cold winters started.

 

good point ... one tends to only relate to the minimum temps, and forgets about what the rest of the day holds

 

I took this picture at the Eden Project last year. I don't think it would survive in my sandy soil or cope with the winds here.

 

This is what i have left alive from the ones i started,,red bottlebrush(tall ones i started ealier from our original seeds and most of the small ones from strongys )
these ones are all yellow ones(forgot names sorry)but the salmon n orange ones didnt make it this time

 

They are looking good Joolz but they neeed pinching out at about 4/5" to encourage branching and make a sturdy. They have a habit of branching almost at soil level which need to be reduced to one and then, as above, pinch out the growing tip or as in one of your pics, Salignus top right I think (and one of my specimens) it grows as a U shape.

 

I think that this is Pallidus in the bush in Tassie - it was around Cradle Mountain, so it gets down to -10ish there. Mind you - it could be something else completely!

 

I wondered why your bunch were softer to the touch strongy i didnt know you had to pinch them out i thought i might be getting a flower im a gorp
Them red ones are pretty tough and the one thats regrowing from the stump in the front garden(that we thought was dead) has lots of new shoots on..should i pull some off or leave it to do it own thing??
i will have another bash at the other seeds if im sure of heating in the gh this winter,got the electric down there now so here hoping x