Hi I have purple cone flower seeds. Can I trade with your bottle brush plant seeds? Please let me know!

If it's a Callistemon, they're as tough as old boots. The traditional time to prune is after the flowers die, and just cut off behind the spent flowers as the seed pods form. Otherwise, it'll start looking like this, with fewer and fewer flowers over the years... And it's a common practice to cut the whole tree/bush back to near ground level, where it'll come back bushier and healthier than ever. They do like moisture, and I've commonly seen them growing on the banks of rivers and dams, where some of the roots are constantly wet. They're not bothered by frosts or summer heat. They grow here happily through -5C (23F) winters and 40C (104F) summers.

"Both the Callistemon phoenicus and the related melaleuca are farily tall trees or shrubs. Our neighbor had a melaleuca that was at least 20 feet tall. While evergreen it shed leaves and like euclayptus, the oils in the leaeves inhibited plants from growing beneath it.'' not all melaleuca are trees or tall shrubs and the two I mentioned above are good sizes for a smaller garden. as far as plants growing beneath them, I think you'll find it's more a problem of dry soil and root competition from an established tree, so getting the plants established while the tree is still small will definitely give them a head start. I've never had any problems growing plants beneath bottlebrush or melaleucas but I tend to use plants that don't need a lot of root space like the native dianella, south african hostas and also succulents but this is with well established trees that have a lot of roots in the area already and these plants dont need a lot of soil to grow in. catankgirl you make a good point that it could be because of better soil (ours are dreadful) and a milder climate than ours. It's also a good idea for people to research the species or variety they are planting too because there are lots of smaller ones available which won't turn into monsters.

Hi I have 3 planted and plan to plant 50 more. I paid $4.99 each and bought them from a wonderful e-bay seller by the name of Donovan. He sells more than one type and is very knowledgeable. I have bought several from him as well as tons of other things and everything arrives healthy and thrives. But they are starter plants about 6-12" tall. But one that I bought and planted April 2011 is now 4' tall! WellSpring Gardens - store name and wellspring100 - seller id The hummers and butterflies adore them. I do know that there are all kinds just as Renee said. Rena'