Bottle Brush - pruning?

 We live in Margate, UK. About 2 mins walk from the sea so get very few
frosts. We have a bottle brush in a pot and is about 18 ins high. My
question - when the red 'brush' dies down on a branch there is further
growth of leaves above. Should these leaves be cut off or will a new
brush appear?

 On 6/26/2009 2:07 AM, Pete L wrote:

I had bottle brush in my previous home.  This was Calleistemon citrinus
(also known as C. lanceolatus), not a species of Melaleuca.  After
flowering, a branch would indeed grow longer.  In a later season, that
branch would flower again.  Since the seeds will remain attached to the
branch for a long time, I would occasionally have several bands of seeds
along the same branch.

On the other hand, if you cut the branch (even just the tip), the plant
will become more bushy.

--
David E. Ross
Climate:  California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at <http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary>

 
So is that "bad" or "good"?
________________________
It depends.

If you want to grow new plants, the nuts are good as they contain the seeds
of the plants - very, very fine seed, like dust.  If you don't like the look
of the nuts, then it's probably not good.

I love the nuts and generally let them grow till they look leggy and then I
savage them.

 

This might help:
http://www.anbg.gov.au/callistemon/index.html

If you don't get many frosts, it'd probably be better off in the garden than
in a pot, but then again, many bottle brushes don't mind frost at all.