In the Garden with Nell Carr

Photo contributed

Callistemon in Deloraine Community Garden.

AMONG THE more prolific species of native Australian shrubs is Callistemon, or Bottlebrush. The gardening dictionary lists 28 different varieties. They belong to the same family as the Eucalypts — the Myrtaceae. Tasmania can boast only one endemic species, C. viridiflorus, which as its name suggests, has bottle brushes of a greenish yellow. It is listed as drought tender, but once established, appears to tolerate very dry summers like the current one.

summers like the current one. C. pallidus is a native of Tasmania and Victoria. It can grow very straggly and rangy unless it is trimmed regularly. The one pictured in the Deloraine Community Garden was trimmed to give more light to the street beds to the south – a fortuitous move, as it has become a neat, dense bush with abundant flowers. These attract the bees in their hundreds – a pollination service for the other plants in the garden. Callistemons from interstate can boast much brighter flowers than do the local varieties. C. citrinus, the Lemon-scented Bottlebrush bears its bright red flowers through the year, but as it is drought tender, flowers are few and far between this summer.

In the vegie garden

January is the last month for sowing frost tender dwarf beans. All of the Brassicas – cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli – may be sown, but it is better to leave them until the end of summer, to avoid damage to the seedlings from cabbage butterfly larvae.