Plant Finder

Other Names:  Showy Honey Myrtle

Description:

This large shrub or small tree makes a unique addition to the landscape with its fine, bright green foliage; gracefully twisting branches are adorned with lavender to rose-pink bottlebrush flowers in spring and summer

Ornamental Features

Pink Melaleuca features showy clusters of rose frilly flowers with lavender overtones at the ends of the branches from late spring to early summer. It has attractive green evergreen foliage. The small oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain green throughout the winter. The peeling brown bark adds an interesting dimension to the landscape.

Landscape Attributes

Pink Melaleuca is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting bees and hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Pink Melaleuca is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Pink Melaleuca will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for xeriscaping or the moisture-conserving landscape. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in poor soils, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This species is not originally from North America.

Pink Melaleuca makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Its large size and upright habit of growth lend it for use as a solitary accent, or in a composition surrounded by smaller plants around the base and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.