Paperbark Melaleuca viridiflora (Callistemon)

Melaleuca viridiflora is the paperbark of seasonally flooded flats across the tropical north, the tree left standing where other species drown. The leaves are the identifying feature, thick, broad and leathery, nothing like the fine foliage most people expect from a melaleuca. Bottlebrush spikes are usually greenish cream, though red flowered forms are grown as well, and the bark peels in soft white layers you can lift with a thumbnail. It is planted for screening, shelter belts and low ground that stays wet after rain.

A northern plant, and what happens when it heads south

Warmth is the governing factor. This species is dependable in Queensland and warm coastal New South Wales, and it becomes unreliable as you move into cold inland districts, where frost cuts back young growth and the plant never gains momentum. That is the failure to plan around: not drainage, not feeding, but climate, so match it to a warm humid or subtropical garden and choose something else where winters are cold. Given the right climate it asks for very little. Full sun, moderate to fast growth, and low water once established, with real tolerance of ground that holds water after storms and of the wet and dry swing of a northern season. Poor sandy soils are fine, and salt wind is handled. Lorikeets and honeyeaters work the flower spikes. Bark and leaf litter builds under the canopy through the year, so keep it away from pool surrounds and gutters. The old habit of listing it as a Callistemon still shows up on stock lists, but the bark places it with the paperbarks. Growth is moderate to fast in warmth, with most of the season made in the build up and the wet.

How it differs from the other paperbarks stocked here

Melaleuca quinquenervia is the more widely adapted of the two trees, growing well down the eastern seaboard into cooler coastal gardens, with narrower leaves and whiter, thicker bark, so south of the subtropics that is the one to specify. Viridiflora earns its place in the north, where the broad leathery foliage gives a coarser, more tropical texture that reads differently against palms and gingers. Snowstorm is not a tree at all but a compact shrub for low hedging, useful when the wet corner is a small one. Texture separates the two trees as well: fine leaves and white bark read as an open, airy canopy, while this broad leathery foliage reads solid and shades more heavily, so in a screen it blocks a view sooner at the same height. Compare all three in the paperbark collection.

Shaping it, and feeding on poor sand

Prune after a flowering flush, which is when the plant recovers quickly and when you are not removing developing buds. It takes shaping readily and can be run as a multi stemmed screen or lifted to a single trunk, and unlike the grevilleas and banksias here it reshoots from older wood without much drama. On poor sandy ground a general slow release fertiliser in spring lifts the growth rate noticeably, and there is no phosphorus restriction to worry about. Water through establishment, then only in extended dry spells. Keep grass and weeds off the base for the first two years so a young plant is not competing for water in the dry season.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 140mm up to 5L, priced from $29.95 to $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to coastal planting.