If I remember correctly, they are Australian plants & need warm weather.

I had a gorgeous one...
for one summer.

Although the following winter wasn't "bad", the bottlebrush did not survive.

too bad, too, because they're beautiful beautiful plants.

If yours don't return, & you get more, put them inside for the winter.

Will Bottlebrushes return from the roots like an Oleander or are they dead if the top turns brown?

Both my standard ones and Little Johns are completely brown and the twigs are brittle. They snap right off without a hint of green inside the stems.

It'd be a shame if they're truly dead. They are (were) some of my favorites. :^(

All but 2 (planted in protected area) of mine are brown, even my huge ones over 10'
I was told by a lady *in the know* yesterday that they will most likely come back and cited a great reference, so I am not giving up
They are my favorite shrub/tree
Good luck

Mine are exactly as described above and one of them is 7 or 8 years old and really large so I am sick that they may be dead. What a weird, cold winter.

Lynn

Mine too, is brown, with the exception of a few green leaves near the base. It's really holding on to those brown leaves too though. I'm hoping they'll fall off as new growth emerges. It didn't seem brittle last time I tried snapping it, but as tough as those leaves are clinging, I wonder if it's a tough wood even when dead?!

I finally have my front yard in tidy form and am moving to the back today. I'll poke around mine a bit more and report what I find!

Since its been a few weeks since anyone's posted here, I'm wondering if anyone's noticed and signs of life on their Bottlebrushes.

I've cut all mine back to stubs and there wasn't a hint of life anywhere. I'll probably give them a few more weeks and then throw in the towel if some signs of life don't appear...

My Little John is planted in a somewhat protected area. It was 3' tall and 3' wide and totally brown from the freezes. It still has most of it's brown leaves clinging to it, but I am seeing new green buds and growth starting in interior along the branches. I don' think it's alive all the way to the ends of the stems, but I will trim it back to the new growth once I'm sure it's done budding out.

I haven't cut mine back but they are still looking pretty far gone :(

I just spotted today some green growth coming from my larger (and older) bottlebrush! I am very excited! I'm still not sure that the younger one is alive, but at least the big one still is!

Lynn

Wait for the 80's, people...........wait for the 80's...the ground has to warm up a bit.

Well, call me impatient, but I pulled the plug this weekend on all the plants not showing any signs of life, including the bottlebrushes. Went with replacements that are reliably z8 hardy.

I knew the Little Johns were more of a z9 plant, so fair enough, but the standard ones were listed as z8 on the tag, which left me a little frustrated... Live and learn.

Well, I was waiting it out but had pretty much given up since I had detected no sign of life in my BB's (even scraping low down on trunk). I just happened to look at it the other day and lo and behold! there was some green growth. I think it is going to need some major cutting back, however.

I thought I would post that mine was still alive so as to give other folks hope that perhaps theirs was too.

bjb, I think we've all gotten lulled into a false sense of security the last few years with having mild winters; I know I had all kinds of stuff in my yard that would normally have not been considered winter hardy and yet it lived from year to year. Until this past winter! I'm certainly going to be more careful about what I put in the yard! It's hard to lose mature plants!

Lynn

Our bottlebrush bushes are over 15 feet tall and heavily damaged by the freeze. We have new growth high and low on them so we are carefully cutting them back to the new growth. Our nursery advised us to cut them back so I am hoping this works. It's heartbreaking to have to cut them.

I've seen signs of life on Bottlebrushs, starting to bud out along the main trunks and some branches. The big ones will probably need a season to get back to where they were, but they are fast growers... almost too fast.
Saw a large one the other day that had no freeze damage at all, and it went uncovered through the hard freeze. Was in a somewhat protected spot, but unusual to see it all nice and green and red.

For those of you getting new growth-were yours in somewhat protected locations? Just curious. Ours were in pretty exposed areas and I think that may have contributed to their demise. :^(

My large BB was located on the SE corner of my house, flanked by a large gardenia (which also sustained freeze damage - grrrrr!) and some shrubs on the other side, so it was in a somewhat protected spot.

My younger BB, which was over 5 feet tall, a weeping tree-like specimen - bought last year for $$$$ - and which was to be a focal point in the yard, croaked. It was not located in a very sheltered spot.

I dug it up yesterday and threw it, sadly, on the brush pile.

Lynn

Do you ever put tree spike fertilizers around bottlebrushes?

My weeping bottle brush (about 8-9ft tall) also succumbed to the winter freeze and seemed to have gotten some disease. I cut off the winter burned leaves and later the rest of the plant seemed to shrivel and not recover. I finally had to cut it down to the main stem and I am hoping and praying that it comes back to life. I love the bloom from this little tree- so I really hope it comes back to life even though we are now in May (Houston, TX). Is it OK to apply neem organic oil to the pruned stems/brances? Anybody know?

Our bottle brush was new last summer and I really thought we had lost it over the winter. We have many branches that appear to be dead and snapped off easily....I did cut back somewhat but decided to wait a while longer before really cutting it back.....until the really warm weather shows sup. There is definitely new growth coming up from the bottom of the plant. About half dead and half green.