Friday, July 18, 2014

Bottlebrush Resurrection

Oh Winter 2013/14! Why'd you have to be so mean?!?

I forgave you for murdering my cute little Acacia bormanii...

I forgave you for beating up my Palm trees and Pittosporums..
 
I forgave you for a multitude of other little sins too...

But I wasn't going to forgive the loss of my favorite Lemon Bottlebrush (Callistemon pallidus).

The summer before
Callistemon pallidus (Lemon Bottlebrush) spring 2014
Oh the horror!
While not a particularity special or pretty variety, it was my first, biggest and oldest Bottlebrush and it was special to me. It was my first foray into zone pushing, slightly inappropriate for our climate plants

In late spring, it was so sad to see it wither away and then explode in a pile of dead leaves everywhere. It looked VERY, very bad.

It was well into April/May and there was not much sign of life. I just kept looking at the dead stems, thinking I should at least get my pruners and cut them off. They were sticking out like sore thumbs. I wasn't going to dig it out just yet though.

In June, I noticed new growth at the base of the plant and was hopeful. I was almost afraid the new growth was a weed or some other plant trying to trick me.


Presently, it's put on about a foot of growth and I am relieved. It may be awhile before I get flowers again, but at least it's still with me!

Now I can FINALLY cut those dead stems off!

Yay!




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6 comments:

  1. Hooray! The winter did in one of my Greviileas, but I'm pretty sure mine was truly, completely dead when I pulled it out of the ground about 2 weeks ago. It came out of the ground right away with just a little pull. Lucky you!

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  2. Congrats...another life saved.

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  3. It's amazing how plant life can rebound! Great to hear it's survived :)

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  4. I had some plants that I was sure were goners after we hit sub-zero temps this winter. While many died and few shocked me by living. I'm always amazed by how determined plants can be. :o) Hooray for plants that refuse to die!

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  5. Yay for that! I pulled mine out, impatience and all. Then again mine was the blue form which is said to be even less hardy. Congrats!

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  6. Wow, congrats! Another plant saved by the Lents Farmer! Wonderful. I lost a callistemon too....I had no hope. Maybe I should have been patient like you!

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