How To Grow A Tall Bottlebrush Tree For A Stunning Garden Feature

If you're looking for an attractive way to attract hummingbirds and butterflies to your yard, you need look no further than the crimson bottlebrush tree (Melaleuca citrina, formerly Callistemon citrinus). The brilliant, showy red flowers of this broadleaf evergreen — shaped, appropriately, like bottle brushes — might as well be a beacon to passing pollinators, a flashy sign shouting "EAT HERE!" An Eastern Australian native, the crimson bottlebrush is a member of the myrtle family and is also known by the common names lemon or lemon-scented bottlebrush due to the faint citrus scent its leaves emit when crushed.

You may have seen bottlebrushes trained as shrubs, usually 3 to 5 feet tall. This is the way they're most frequently grown and sold, but did you know that they can also be grown as wall cover or as trees up to 25 feet tall? Eye-catching, beneficial to your local pollinators, and versatile — there are all kinds of ways and reasons to use a bottlebrush shrub in landscaping. But if you want to use this tree as a stately garden feature, there are a few specific steps you'll need to take.

Considered winter hardy in USDA Zones 9 through 11, crimson bottlebrushes favor moist soil with good drainage, particularly soils containing sand, clay, or loam — just keep an eye out for crown and root rot in soils that are very moist. These trees love full sun but can also thrive in partial shade, and can tolerate some acidity or alkalinity in soil (but beware too much alkalinity!). Once established, bottlebrushes are quite drought-tolerant ornamental trees. For robust foliage, apply a slow-release balanced fertilizer every spring and keep an eye out for new leaves coming up yellow, which could indicate an iron deficiency that might need correcting.

You may be able to source a young bottlebrush that has already been shaped into a small single- or multi-trunked tree; in this case, all you have to do to keep training it into this shape is to occasionally prune any new unruly growth off the trunk(s) until a canopy has been established. If you're starting with a shrubbier shape, it's best to let it grow to 4 or 5 feet tall before you begin to prune your bottlebrush shrub. Once you have a bit of height to work with, carefully begin by removing suckers from the base of what will become the main trunk. As you work your way upward, make sure you pause frequently to make sure you're achieving the canopy size and shape you want for this stunning tree feature in your garden.