Spike Leeway

You Givin' Me The Brush-Off?

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This is an Australian native plant, the Callistemon, but it's commonly called the bottlebrush - and you can see exactly how it gets its name. It looks for all the world like one of the long-handled bottlebrushes that Grandma used in her heyday.

I've always been fascinated by the tiny golden points on the tip of each individual spike. They look for all the world like little light-emitting diodes and when they catch the sun, they are a spectacular sight.

While I photographed this plant a couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to spot one branch where the spikes were just beginning to protrude from the pods. This picture (below) gives you a good idea of how the spikes actually emerge, tightly furled, to create one of the most vivid sights in an Australian garden.

And another plus point is that the plant thrives even in extremely dry conditions. That's a major factor in this country, where drought has been part of our lives for the past eight years.


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