Weeping Bottlebrush Callistemon viminalis Dawson River Weeper (Melaleuca viminalis)

Dawson River Weeper was selected for one quality: long, whip like branches that hang close to vertical, a heavier fall than anything else in this range. It grows as a small tree of about four to five metres, with silvery pink new growth on the drooping tips, narrow grey green leaves, and red brushes coming heavily in spring with a second run later. It is a feature tree for a lawn, an entry statement beside a drive, or a tall informal screen where the branches have room to fall.

Put the hedge trimmer away

Shear this cultivar into a ball or a flat faced hedge and you have removed the only thing separating it from every other red bottlebrush on the list. Worse, regrowth off a stubbed cut comes back stiff and upright rather than pendulous, so the fall does not return: you have permanently converted it into a plain upright shrub that cost you more. If the site calls for a clipped hedge, buy a different plant. This one is grown loose or not at all, and since the branches lengthen and the fall improves with every year, patience pays better here than shears.

Getting the shape started

It performs through subtropical and warm temperate gardens across Queensland, New South Wales and coastal Victoria, and adapts to Adelaide and Perth with water through the first summers. Like the parent species it handles wet ground and creek banks better than most trees you would plant near water, and tolerates dry once settled. An open position suits it and part shade is tolerated. For a clear trunk, remove the low branches early and stake it properly at planting, because a young plant left to itself sprawls and leans away from the prevailing wind, and a leaning trunk cannot be straightened later. Used as an informal screen, allow around three metres between plants. Go easy with fertiliser: soft rushed growth stands up instead of hanging, so once a year in early spring at the drip line is plenty, and less does more good than more.

How it sits against the other weepers

Hannah Ray weeps moderately and tolerates trimming, which makes it the one for a boundary that has to be kept in bounds; take Dawson River Weeper when the plant is meant to be looked at rather than to hide something. The weeping bottlebrush species falls less strongly and grows larger, so this is the more manageable choice on a suburban block. Captain Cook shares the parentage but is a mounded dwarf with no fall at all, so do not buy it expecting a scaled down version of this plant. Larger stock sits under advanced trees.

Minimal pruning

Shorten the spent brushes back to the first healthy growth behind them once flowering finishes, take out anything crossing or rubbing, and stop there. Formative work on the trunk belongs in the first few years while the wounds are small. Sawfly larvae cluster on the tips in spring and strip new growth fast, so hose them off as soon as you spot them.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 8 sizes, from 140mm up to 45L, priced from $16.95 to $259.00 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.