First Callistemon

This is the first Callistemon to flower this year, this one is about 7 ft high and has the typical weeping habit of some varieties. The other 7 should follow in the next few weeks.

 

sorry strongy - just lookslike something you clean the loo with!

I am sure it looks better in real life!

7ft high though - that is really something, but don't suppose it is hardy?

 

It is totally hardy (down here at least) taken -5c as all of the others have.
I wouldn't clean a loo with a bottle brush! :D

 

Hi Strongylodon.
Great picture of your Callistemon.
Did you get yours from the nursery on the Lizard in Cornwall?
From the outside the entrance looks tiny, but once inside it is like a tardis, with lots of greenhouses and lots of your plant in both white and red.
Well worth a look at if any one is on holiday that way

Kandy

 

No K, I grew it from a cutting six or seven years ago. most of mine are from seed although they take a year or two longer to flower than the ones from cuttings.

 

Not got that colour srongy, mine are the more usual red.

 

OK you sold me on it - shall I have a go?

 

The original Salignus was red but for a long time there has been this weeping yellow form. I have Pallidus due to open any day now just behind Salignus which is also yellow and Seiberei which is a greenish yellow, then Mauve Mist which is pink!, followed by Citrinus Splendens and Pinnifolia, two reds. I have a 8ft high Viminallis in a pot only three years old which is also in bud. This is the true weeping bottle brush tree and took -5c earlier with no damage which surprised me as I didn't think it was that hardy. Strangely enough I don't have the usual red Rigidus(or linearis). Although they are short lived flowers I still have a passion for them and if my garden was larger I would have more.

 

The (common) popular red bottle brush is hardy in all but the coldest parts of the UK. Like peonys the flowering time is about two/three weeks at most so you wait a long time for a short burst of colour but I think it's worth the wait (even for a loo brush). :D

 

I grew mine from seed about 20 years ago and it has been totally hardy with no dieback whatsoever. It's nowhere near flowering yet though, perhaps in another month.

It has very narrow leaves unlike most that one sees, presumably it's a different variety.

 

I have one with leaves like that Rich, also some with wider leaves.

 

Mine's only tiny,But this was taken about 2 weeks ago. It spent the winter in the greenhouse, fortunately.



Thanks to Strongy I have some seedlings as well!

[ 06. June 2006, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: Liz ]

 

Pull off the previous years seed capsules and pop them in a container or paper bag for about two/three weeks. By then they will have dried out and the seed should fall out, thousands of them. You can cut them open if they haven't fallen out.
It is best to do this in late winter as they could be sown early spring but you could do it at any time through to mid summer.
I did sow some Callistemon Viminalis seed in early august last year (They fell in to my camera case again in Tenerife, I don't know how :D ) but are now only 15 ins high.