(Baja Fairyduster, Flame Bush, Tabardillo)

Baja fairyduster is a delicate-looking, bright-colored, evergreen shrub for very hot, dry desert gardens. It demands a frost-free climate and plenty of direct sun. It is native to sandy washes and rocky slopes of the dry cape regions of Baja California and Sonora, Mexico. The plant is thorny and deer-resistant. Branching is open and the narrow arching twigs are studded with soft fern-like, compound leaves.

This shrub blooms after the rainy season, whether spring or summer. Blooms may also appear...

(Fairyduster, Mock Mesquite)

Grown (and named) for its delicate and unusual winter blooms, fairyduster is a low, spreading, deciduous shrub from the southwestern United States and Northwest Mexico, where it grows in dry washes and gullies at low to middle altitudes. Gray, twiggy, often sprawling stems with small, alternating, pinnately compound leaves give rise to powderpuff heads of pink stamens in late winter and early spring. Their nectar attracts hummingbirds and other polllinators. Silvery seed pods follow the flowers....

(Wine Cups)

A drought-tolerant powerhouse, wine cups is so delicate and colorful you will find it hard to believe it is tough. This native of the central and eastern United States is a low-growing, herbaceous perennial that produces many large, vivid magenta, cupped flowers in the heat of summer. These appear above deeply lobed, palm-shaped leaves of medium green.

Once established, wine cups will thrive in full sun and average to poor soil. It will not tolerate "wet feet", so be sure you plant them in well...

(Mexican Wine Cups, Poppy Mallow, Wine Cups)

A drought-tolerant powerhouse, wine cups is so delicate and colorful you will find it hard to believe it is tough. This native of the central and eastern United States is a low-growing, herbaceous perennial that produces many large, vivid magenta, cupped flowers in the heat of summer. These appear above deeply lobed, palm-shaped leaves of medium green.

Once established, wine cups will thrive in full sun and average to poor soil. It will not tolerate "wet feet", so be sure you plant them in well...

(Crimson Bottlebrush)

Named and grown for its fuzzy spikes of bright red flowers, crimson bottlebrush is a large, spreading, evergreen shrub or small tree native to eastern Australia. It has stiff, flat, narrow, lance-shaped, green leaves which are coppery colored when young and which emit a lemony aroma when crushed. The flowers appear in heaviest abundance in spring and summer, attracting hummingbirds. The fruits are cup-shaped, small and woody and release hundreds of tiny seeds. The bark is gray to grayish brown in...

Named and grown for its fuzzy spikes of bright red flowers, crimson bottlebrush is a large, spreading, evergreen shrub or small tree native to eastern Australia. It has stiff, flat, narrow, lance-shaped, green leaves which are coppery colored when young and which emit a lemony aroma when crushed. The flowers appear in heaviest abundance in spring and summer, attracting hummingbirds. The fruits are cup-shaped, small and woody and release hundreds of tiny seeds. The bark is gray to grayish brown in...

(Compact Crimson Bottlebrush, Crimson Bottlebrush)

Named and grown for its fuzzy spikes of bright red flowers, crimson bottlebrush is a large, spreading, evergreen shrub or small tree native to eastern Australia. It has stiff, flat, narrow, lance-shaped, green leaves which are coppery colored when young and which emit a lemony aroma when crushed. The flowers appear in heaviest abundance in spring and summer, attracting hummingbirds. The fruits are cup-shaped, small and woody and release hundreds of tiny seeds. The bark is gray to grayish brown in...

(Erect Bottlebrush, Rigid Bottlebrush)

New leaves are light yellow-green and fuzzy but then mature to dark green and stiff on the stiff bottlebrush. It is showiest anytime from very late winter into late summer when branch tips are crimson-red spikes of bristled flowers. This evergreen large shrub is native to east-central Australia in Queensland and New South Wales. Its branches are a ghostly gray-beige with mildly corky dark sandy brown bark.

The dark green leaves are stiff and linear to lance-shaped although when first emerging...

(Clemson Hardy Bottlebrush, Red Cluster Bottlebrush)

Fuzzy new leaves are light yellow-green and rose but then mature to dark green and stiff on the Red Cluster bottlebrush. Botanical known as 'Clemson Hardy', it is showiest anytime from very late winter into late summer when branch tips have crimson-red spikes of bristled flowers. This evergreen large shrub is native to east-central Australia in Queensland and New South Wales. Its branches are a ghostly gray-beige with mildly corky dark sandy brown bark.

The dark green leaves are stiff and linear...

(Weeping Bottlebrush)

Usually grown as a small multi-stemmed tree or large shrub, this narrow-leaved evergreen from eastern Australia has weeping branches that produce fuzzy clusters of bright red flowers in spring and sporadically thereafter. Its light-green leaves are flushed with bronze when new. Several cultivars are available, including the dwarf 'Little John'.

Grow weeping bottlebrush in full sun and well-drained fertile soil. A nice specimen tree for the border or patio, it can also be massed for screening....