Crimson Bottlebrush Callistemon citrinus Endeavour (Melaleuca citrina)

Endeavour goes in as a hedge far more often than as a specimen. It makes a solid upright shrub or small tree of around two to three metres with real density low down, and it takes hedging shears more willingly than others in this genus, which is the whole case for choosing it. Brushes are deep red with gold anther tips. Crush a leaf and you get the lemon scent behind the old species name citrinus, now carried under Melaleuca citrina.

The trap is the calendar

Because it clips so readily, people put Endeavour on the same schedule as the rest of their hedges and shear it in late summer or autumn along with everything else. That cut removes precisely the wood carrying the following spring brushes. The result is a tidy green hedge that never flowers, year after year, and the owner concludes the plant is a dud. Cut when flowering finishes, take one light tip trim in early summer if the face needs tightening, then leave the shears in the shed until the brushes have come and gone again. The timing matters more here than elsewhere in the genus for a simple reason: nothing else in this range gets clipped four times a year.

Building the frame

It is at home from southern Queensland through coastal and inland New South Wales into Victoria and South Australia, and copes with a Perth summer given water in the establishment years. It wants sun for most of the day, though it will hold a face in part shade. Heavy clay and ground that holds water briefly after storms do not trouble it, which makes it a sensible replacement in a wet corner where a row of exotic hedging shrubs has already failed. Plant one to 1.2 metres apart for a clipped hedge and 1.5 metres for a looser screen, and water through the first two summers, because a hedge only ever ends up as dense at the base as the growth it laid down in its first year. Start trimming from the first season rather than waiting for it to reach height.

Hedge, screen or mound

Little John is worth considering only where height is not wanted, since a dwarf mound cannot cover a fence however many you plant. Kings Park Special runs the other way, too large and too arching to hold a cut face without constant work. Eureka is the near neighbour, and the difference is finish: Eureka for an informal screen grown out, Endeavour where the face is cut to a line. Related options sit under privacy screening.

Pests on a clipped plant

A tightly sheared hedge holds still air inside it, and that is where the trouble starts. Scale settles on the interior stems and sooty mould follows on the honeydew, both worse in humid corners with no air movement, so thin the occasional branch out of the middle instead of only cutting the outside. Sawfly larvae cluster on young shoots in spring and are easy to knock off early. Feed once after the main prune with a fertiliser formulated for natives, then water it in thoroughly.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 12 sizes, from 70mm up to 75L, priced from $16.95 to $449.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to planting for birds.