Thursday, November 8, 2012

Callistemon ‘Clemson’...my favorite plant in the garden, this week!

The garden changes so much I find myself mildly obsessed with a different plant in my garden almost every other day. All it takes is the afternoon light to hit something just right, or maybe I notice new leaf unfurling in a dramatic way and suddenly I see that plant as I never have before. My latest obsession is this Callistemon ‘Clemson’ I bet you can guess why…

It’s flowering for a second time this year and in November no less!

I bought this Callistemon from Xera Plants (via Garden Fever) as a small 1 gallon plant in the spring of 2009. Unsure if it would live through the winter (this was my first Callistemon and it seemed too exotic to live in my zone 8 garden) I celebrated its living through our fist winter storm with this picture in December of that year.

This is not the hardiest of the hardy bottlebrushes, and during our cold (nights in the teens, some days not above freezing) winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11 it did experience some branch die back. The Xera description…“Our favorite red flowered bottlebrush that appears to be as hardy to cold as Woodlander's Hardy Red', we await a very harsh freeze for a final assessment. Compact growing variety to 6' tall and as wide. Upright and spreading with very large brilliant red flowers that are borne over a very long time beginning in late spring and often continuing until a hard freeze. Flowers are the largest and most vivid of the cold hardy red flowered varieties. Blue green leaves- may be a red variety of C. pallidus. Requires a very protected location. Xera Plants Introduction”

In my experience Callistemon 'Woodlander’s Hardy Red' is more tolerant of cold temperatures, not even a single leaf on those plants (I have three) has been damaged with zero protection, where as I did wrap the ‘Clemson’ when temperatures were predicted to fall into the teens. However the larger leaves of ‘Clemson’ make it a beauty worth the extra effort.

The hard seed nodules are another favorite feature of all Callistemons and these are a little larger than others.
Here are the vital stats:
  • Eventual size: size 6ft tall x 6ft wide
  • Hardy in USDA Zones 8b - 10b
  • Water needs are low and it likes sun! (no wonder we get along)
I hope you enjoyed taking a closer look at my current plant obsession. I plan to make “my favorite plant in the garden, this week” a reoccurring feature. It’s sometimes hard to find a new topic in my garden to post about; after all I've been at this 5 days a week for almost 4 years now. But my garden is why I started this blog so I don’t want to ever spend too much time away from it. And perhaps by highlighting a weekly fav you might be introduced to a plant you've never heard of or maybe be tempted to look at an old plant in a new light…

27 comments:

  1. Interesting to look at a Callistemon through your eyes. Here it is so common, and having grown up with it everywhere, I hardly notice it at all.

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    1. So true about so many things in the garden...

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  2. Here bottlebrushes are very common also (typically Callistemon citrinus) but I'm still a fan. I was going to plant one a few years ago but then our neighbor across the street put three in their front yard so now I don't have to :-).

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    1. Isn't wonderful when neighbors garden for you? I'm still so happy our next door neighbor planted a Tiger Eyes Sumac.

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  3. It's so true...when someone asks what my favorite plant is, I always preface it with "Well, right now..." :-)

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  4. Callistemons are some of my favorite plants. I have been trying hard to find a good place for a red one, but I think I just have to content myself with my C. viridiflorus for now. Your 'Clemson' looks wonderful in that last shot with the lush blue Melianthus foliage behind it!

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    1. Actually part of what really has me loving this plant is the combo with the Melianthus. Maybe I should have called it favorite combos rather than favorite plant?

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  5. So nice to have those groovy blooms in November! The seed capsules are pretty nifty but I was drawn to the red bark as well. I don't have any of these in my garden but this variety is sure a beauty.

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    1. I bet it would be very happy in your garden...tucked away under a high canopy of foliage for frost protection...

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  6. Love the seed nodules! Flowers too, but that goes without saying. You mild climate gardeners get some of the best plants, don't you?

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    1. Ha! It's good to be reminded sometimes that indeed I am in a mild climate. As you know I get all caught up wishing for a Zone 9 gardening experience!

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  7. I can clearly see why! Any blooms seen at this time of the year is a lovely bonus though :)

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    1. So true, there really isn't much blooming out there right now.

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  8. I am the same with a constantly changing favourite plant. I think it just shows how many great plants you have that any one of them can be your favourite. Instead of having just one that stands out.

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    1. I can't imagine just having one...that would be so sad!

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  9. That's a beauty for sure! love the seed heads too. Great plant.

    Right now my favorite plants are my bromeliads because I've already cleaned them up and brought them in for the winter. I still have a garage full of other tender plants left to deal with and I'm mighty tired of hauling things in at this point.

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    1. I hear you! This (and during the great spring migration) is when I start start to doubt my sanity. Too many containers!

      Hoping you'll do a post on your collection, unless you already have in which case maybe you'll point me to it?

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  10. I think I'm going to enjoy this new recurring feature from you. I just planted my first Callistemon this year, and I love it, even though it hasn't even flowered yet. I also have a Woodlander's Hardy that I thought I had killed (I didn't) sitting in its pot, I'm still trying to decide where to put it. The very first Callistemon I ever saw was at one of the Fling gardens last year, it made quite an impression on me.

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    1. Yay! I hope so. So you have two then? Which one did you plant?

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    2. The one I planted is a Callistemon subulatus that I bought from The Desert Northwest this past spring. I thought I had killed the Woodlander's Hardy Red, but it still has green leaves/needles at the tips of the branches. Do you know: Will it "leaf out" again below that in the spring?

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    3. Interesting about the Woodlanders because I had the exact same thing happen. I bought a tiny very root bound plant and then spaced watering well before I planted it. I thought it was a goner but then it did leaf out nicely from the tips and now looks fantastic. It never did leaf out on the lower branches and I ended cutting those off. It has however sent a couple of shoots up from the base, I cut the first couple off but haven't gotten around to doing that to the latest.

      (Hey if you get a photo of your Callistemon subulatus that you're particularly fond of we'd love to use it on plantlust.com and would link back to your blog for photo credit!)

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  11. Love! I can't wait for my cistus order in the springtime. It will be a callistemon hoorah! Thanks for introducing my to yet another plant to find space for.

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    1. Anytime...(love to get the plant lust flowing in everyone!)

      So which one are you ordering from Cistus?

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    2. Depending on what they offer for mail order in the spring, but definitely woodlanders hardy red if they offer it and possibly eleanor. Sieberi was available at Phoenix Perennials last year but sold out so I might just see if they bring any more of them in. Unfortunately I'm outside of the zone 8b and more of a 8a so I don't think I could get away with clemson. But I have some zone 9a plants that seem to handle protected spots of the yard.

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  12. If that photo of the blossom with raindrops clinging doesn't start a rush on 'Clemson' nothing will. Time for me to try again.

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    1. Yay! Maybe don't start with a 'Clemson' though. Woodlanders if you want red (more dark pink) flowers, Viridiflorus or Sieberi for yellow/green ones. Those three seem more reliably hardy for me.

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