12-13-2007 Bottle Brush Tree Invaded My Deck!
From low maintenance backyard to high maintenance wasp haven.
Melvin hangs with his new arborial friend
The deck side of the backyard needed some green, so we (unknowingly at the time) planted a bottle brush tree, an Australian species, known for its attraction of wasps and bees. We had to cut an octagonal hole for the tree first, and it has power lines above, to be buried within the next decade, so it had to be a species that couldn't grow too large. I've already seen many bees hovering over its red flower-like brushes (I have been informed they are not caskins, so not sure what they are). In the soil around it, we planted African irises and a brazilian red hot plant.
