Roger's Tree Pick for June 2005: the magnificent melaleuca

If you’re looking for some really wonderful flowering drought-tolerant trees that come in many forms and shapes, melaleuca (“meh-luh-LOO-kuh”) is a family to investigate and explore with the many varieties that exist.

Australia is home to 140 or more species of melaleuca and many of these are very adaptable to our Southern California gardens.

The melaleuca trees are in the Myrtaceae family, which is a very large genus with other trees like eucalyptus, leptospermum, agonis, callistemon, tristaniopsis and eugenia, to name a few. All have fairly narrow, sometimes needlelike leaves and bear clustered flowers with prominent stamens, which attract many types of birds, especially hummingbirds. Since each flower cluster resembles a bottlebrush, some melaleucas are called bottlebrushes, though that name is more generally applied to members of the genus Callistemon.

Many melaleucas have interestingly contorted branches and bark that peels off in thick papery layers and are called Paper Bark Trees. As a landscape designer I am always interested in shrubs or trees with trunks and branches that have unique architectural shapes and forms, and this holds true, too, this family of trees.

They can have a very wind-swept quality in time and with proper arboricultural pruning can be opened up to be a true living piece of sculpture in a garden setting. Placed in the right spot, they can be that needed focal or artistic statement you’re looking for.

All melaleucas are very easy to grow and withstand heat, wind, seacoast conditions, poor soil and limited moisture, so what else can you ask for in a beautiful tree?

Most of them can make excellent screens if needed in the garden and I have even espaliered them against a wall with careful and selective pruning to enhance their overall appearance.

Another one of the great qualities of these trees is that they have so many varied colors in the flowers — reds, pinks, whites, lavenders, honey and creams.

Some of the more common melaleuca trees that have been a mainstay in the nursery and landscape industry are:

• Melaleuca quiquenervia; Cajeput Tree, or Paperbark Tree. This is a fast grower up to 30-40 feet and must be placed properly in the landscape setting. Pendulous young branches with thick spongy, light brown to whitish bark that peels off in sheets. Some folks have used this papery bark to line their wire baskets for hanging plants in lieu of sphagnum moss. In summer and fall, trees produce two- to three-inch long clusters of fragrant creamy-white flowers along the branchlets, giving a bottle brush-like appearance. They are a little messy, so don’t use around pools or close to patios.

• Melaleuca nesophllya; Pink Melaleuca. This is one of my favorite trees because of its great windswept shape and the terminal borne pink flowers scattered around its canopy. It blooms heaviest in spring and early summer but sometimes blooms at different times of the year. It is hardy to about 25 degrees and can handle some degree of frost. I love using these trees in seaside gardens, where the wind helps sculpt the trees into magnificent specimens. If you have a windy situation or on a hilltop site consider the Pink Melaleuca; you won’t be sorry.

• Melaleuca linariifolia: Snow in Summer. If you’re looking for a real “show-stopper” with white flowers, here’s your tree and it blooms in May and June. This species grows to about 20-25 feet at maturity and is considered a small tree for the garden. It is upright and willow-like when young and needs juvenile staking and training until it gets some caliper to the main trunk.

Some lesser-known melaleucas:

• Melaleuca armillaris; Drooping Melaleuca. This is considered a large shrub or small tree but can be trained into a handsome specimen to about 25 feet or so. Blooms from spring to fall with fluffy white flowers and has prickly leaves that make it a good barrier plant for special areas in the garden.

• Melaleuca decussate: Lilac Melaleuca. Lilac to purple flowers and grows between 10-20 feet in time. The bluish leaves closely set on arching, pendulous branches make this another plant to treat as a living piece of art with careful and selective lacing of the stems and branches.

• Melaleuca elliptica: Granite Bottlebrush. This plant doesn’t get much larger than 15 feet or so and has brown shredding bark. Branches are fanlike, with each one producing a number of branchlets that spread outward and upward in a single plane. This is another one of my special picks.

• Melaleuca incana: Gray Honey Myrtle. If you’re trying to bring in some grays into the garden, consider this furry foliage melaleuca that has a smoky look. She doesn’t get very large and in my garden stands only about eight feet after 10 years in the ground, but is something different and delicate in the right place.

• Melaleuca styphelioides: Black Tea Tree. This is one of the big melees and has very lacy, open growth with pendulous branchlets. Again, thick and spongy bark that turns from pale tan to charcoal-colored with age. It thrives in most any soil and is resistant to oak root fungus. Can be used in the lawn and is very handsome grown with multiple trunks.

So you can hear what a diverse and interesting clan the melaleucas are. Many sizes, shapes, flower colors and uses throughout the garden. You might have to go plant hunting and beat the bushes to find some of these rarer trees, but it’s definitely worth the hunt.

At the Huntington Botanical Garden there is an Australian garden that has a lot of these melaleucas represented.

The planting of trees is simple and obtainable and guarantees quick, successful results within a reasonable amount of time. Plan before you plant.