drought tolerant dwarf bottlebrush Archives

If you had planted “Wonderful” pomegranate shrubs last Spring, and did not harvest the fruit this Fall, you would have plants in your garden that appear to have big, brilliant red Christmas tree ornaments on them. Of course, the leaves on your pom shrubs would have turned a glorious gold then fallen, so your red “ornaments” would be on bare branches now.

If you are thinking of adding a pomegranates to your garden in Spring, you will be happy to know they are very drought tolerant, as you can read here. The name “Wonderful” designates one of the best varieties of pomegranates for private gardens.

If you are reading this post in Australia or elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, pomegranates bear fruit from March to May, rather than from September to February as they do in the U.S. Southwest.

Among the other plants that will give you green and red during the holiday is the very drought tolerant Heavenly Bamboo, (Nandina domestica), which has bright red berries, reddish leaves and is not a bamboo at all. I am not a big fan of the shape of this plant; it looks too much like a cluster of sticks to my eye…but nonetheless I do love the winter color and the fact that it will survive with considerable neglect.

**This Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina domestica) is beginning to change from summer green to winter red.**

Surviving considerable neglect is also a prime characteristic of the sturdy bottle brush, another plant that I do not care for–well, I don’t like the big tall ones with red blooms that are used as center barriers along freeways in California.

**Dwarf bottle brush “Little John” as a low hedge beside ice plant in a very drought tolerant planting in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.**

BUT I really love the dwarf bottle brush variety Callistemon ‘Little John’ which is very suitable for home gardens. Instead of primary colors of plain red and plain green, this low-growing shrub has a blueish-grey cast to the leaves and a burgundy color flower.

**This drought-tolerant, dwarf Callistemon “‘Little John’ grows slowly, rarely needs any pruning and is colorful in Fall and winter.**

Now there is one other color for the holiday season and that is white, as in white Amaryllis, the ones that you force for winter. They are big and bold and can be transplanted into a sheltered corner of your hot, dry garden to bloom again year after year. I did exactly that in Las Vegas, but the next bloom came over a year later near Easter, rather than Christmas. Since then it has bloomed regularly in the Spring.

And be sure to put luminarias out for the holidays to line your patio or walkway. The old-fashioned way to do them is put tea lights inside paper bags. On Amazon the manufacturers state that the bags are fire resistant. If you can find them I’d recommend terra cota luminarias, some of which are battery powered, and you can use them year after year.

Finally…I am moving after the first of the year so I will be publishing this blog only on an irregular basis until I am settled into my new home. Happy New Year to you!