Weeping Bottlebrush Callistemon viminalis Captain Cook (Melaleuca viminalis)

Captain Cook gets confused with the full sized weeping bottlebrush and then planted by somebody expecting a tree. It is a dwarf form of that species: dense, rounded and mounded rather than pendulous, settling at roughly 1.5 to two metres. New growth flushes soft pink to bronze before hardening to narrow deep green leaves, and bright red brushes come through spring with a scattered repeat later. Low hedges under windows, repeated masses along a path and clipped shapes in a native courtyard are the usual jobs. If the sightline you need covered sits above two metres, this is the wrong plant.

Cold is the limit, not wet

Being a selection off a creek margin species, it takes a damp corner as readily as a dry one, so it goes in where drainage is imperfect and other low hedging plants have already failed. What it will not take is a genuine inland frost pocket. Young growth burns off over winter, the plant spends the following season repairing rather than building, and repeated damage leaves a hedge that never closes properly and stays ragged along the top. Established plants handle light frost without fuss. In a cold garden, give a young one a sheltered position with the morning sun off it, or choose a different cultivar and save yourself three seasons.

Otherwise it suits subtropical and warm temperate gardens, and coastal sites in particular, where it handles salt wind without burning. Sun for most of the day gives the tightest face, and part shade is workable. Set plants at a metre for a hedge and 1.5 metres for a loose mass so each mound keeps its own outline. Dig the hole twice as wide as the pot and no deeper, firm it in and keep water up through the first summer. After that, a hedge kept slightly lean stays denser than one pushed along with water and feed.

The two plants people mix it up with

Set against the weeping bottlebrush species, the parentage and the tolerance of wet are the same and the scale is not: one is a small tree, this stays under a window. Against Little John, Captain Cook is the larger dwarf, greener in the leaf and far more forgiving of heavy or damp soil, while Little John gives grey foliage at half the height and needs sharp drainage to hold it. Take Captain Cook for a low hedge in ordinary garden soil. Other low screening options sit under privacy screening.

Clipping a dwarf

Shear lightly and often rather than hard and rarely. Prune straight after each flush, before the buds for the next season set, and stay out of bare old wood, because a dwarf left woody holds the hole for years and a mounded plant shows a hole from every angle. Watch for scale and the sooty mould that follows it, and for webbing caterpillar drawing the tips together in summer. Keep any feeding light, because an overfed hedge puts on soft growth that flops out of the face and has to be cut off again.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 7 sizes, from 70mm up to 45L, priced from $16.95 to $229.00 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.