Bottlebrushes do come from Australia, where they live in a large number of varieties. In Europe mainly hybrids are sold, very rarely the species. We were looking for a tub plant that could be winterized without trouble in our unheated greenhouse and came across Callistemon rigidus. It show the typical shape and colour of a Bottlebrush and it is probably the most hardy member of the whole genus. In Australia it grows far higher than man-high, here in Europe we can`t expect much more than 1.5 meters. Our young plants already survived two winters in the unheated greenhouse, the adult plants are probably somewhat more robust. It might be worth a try if they are hardy outside in warmer regions. We did propagate our plants by seed, so we received more than we needed for ourselves. We sell the surplus here and won`t offer them again when they are sold out.