Bottlebrush

This is a Woodlanders plant in the most literal sense: selected, named, and introduced to the American nursery trade by this nursery, in this town, decades ago. The cultivar now carries our name across the country. One Green World in Oregon, Cistus on Sauvie Island, Greenleaf as a national wholesaler, Wilson Bros in three-gallon, Cloud Mountain Farm in Washington, Dancing Oaks in the Willamette Valley, and dozens of regional nurseries from Louisiana to Idaho all carry the plant. Few cultivars in American horticulture are so permanently tied to a single small nursery in Aiken, South Carolina. To buy here is to buy at the source.

Hardiness

Zones 7–10

Light

Full Sun / Part Shade

Height

4–6 ft.

Spread

4–6 ft.

Bloom

Red

Plant type

Shrub

An evergreen bottlebrush with arching to pendulous branches and dark green, lance-shaped leaves, Callistemon paludosus carries terminal, pink bottlebrush spikes freely in midsummer, an unusual color in a genus mostly given to red. Relatively cold-hardy for a bottlebrush, this is a graceful, easy shrub for a hot, sunny spot.

Hardiness

Zones 8–10

Light

Full Sun

Height

4–6 ft.

Spread

5–8 ft.

Bloom

Pink

Plant type

Shrub

Among the many bottlebrushes, most of which flower fire-engine red, Callistemon viridiflorus goes a different way, opening in greenish yellow brushes over short, prickly evergreen leaves. Native to Tasmania, this is one of the cold-hardier members of the genus and may hold to zone 7.

Hardiness

Zones 8–9

Light

Full Sun

Height

5–6 ft.

Spread

5–6 ft.

Bloom

Green

Plant type

Shrub