Little John Callistemon

Callistemon 'Little John' (Dwarf Callistemon) is a long flowering red dwarf bottlebrush cultivar that won a 'Shrub of the Year' award in Australia a few years ago. The plant is bushy with bluish gray-green attractive foliage and explodes in early summer with rich bright-red bristle-like stamens, attracting bees and hummingbirds into the garden. The flowering can be year round in milder, coastal areas, but in most areas will be from summer into late fall. The plant can be used as a foundation plant, low hedge, or a specimen by itself. Growing to 3 ft tall and 4 ft wide in 10 years, but can be 5 ft tall on older plants. Hardy to 20-25 degrees F, but can rebound after defoliation after temperatures in the teens. 

The genus was named using the Greek words 'kallos' meaning "beautiful" and 'stemon' meaning "stamens" in reference to the long conspicuous and colorful stamens that characterize the flowers of this genus.