Brachychiton ‘Bella Pink’

Brachychiton 'Bella Pink' is a grafted kurrajong hybrid bred for its flowers and its size, reaching about 5m tall and 3m wide rather than the paddock scale of its parents. Deep pink bell flowers cover the branches in the warmer months and bring honeyeaters and lorikeets in close. It is drought and heat tolerant once established, which makes it a genuine feature tree for a dry garden.

Why you'll love it

• Heavy pink flowering. Clusters of bell shaped flowers smother the branches, held clear of the foliage rather than lost inside it.
• Compact for a Brachychiton. At around 5m by 3m it fits a suburban front yard, where the wild species never would.
• It handles dry heat. Drought tolerant, heat tolerant and wind tolerant, so inland and Mediterranean gardens suit it as well as coastal ones.
• Native birds use it. Honeyeaters and lorikeets work the flowers, which is a lot of activity for a tree this size.
• Grafted for consistency. Every plant flowers to the same colour and habit rather than varying the way seedlings do.

Where it works best

Feature planting. This is a tree to put where it will be seen in flower: a front lawn, the corner of a courtyard, or framing an entry.

Small gardens and shade. The 3m spread suits a standard block, and the canopy casts filtered shade rather than deep shade, so underplanting still gets light.

Driveways and avenues. Plant 4m to 5m apart for a repeating row that stays in scale with a suburban street frontage.

Growing Bella Pink in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun for the heaviest flowering. It suits subtropical, warm temperate, Mediterranean and arid to semi arid gardens. It takes light frost only, so cold inland and southern gardens that frost hard need a sheltered warm wall or a different tree altogether.

Soil. Free draining is the requirement. Sandy and gravelly soils are ideal, and on clay you should plant high on a mound and improve the whole bed rather than just the planting hole.

Water and feed. Water weekly through the first two summers, then cut back. Once established it prefers to run dry, and overwatering pushes leaf at the expense of flower. A low phosphorus native fertiliser in early spring is plenty.

Pruning. Very little is needed. Shorten any long unbalanced shoots after flowering, and keep the graft union clean by rubbing off shoots that appear below it.

What to expect when it arrives

It is available in a 400mm pot and a 45L, both of which arrive as established young trees with a clear trunk and a formed head rather than as whips. Because they are grafted, they carry the flowering habit from the start instead of taking years to mature into it.

Expect a quiet first season while the roots go out, then steady growth. Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Advanced and large stock is freighted at cost, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Browse Australian native trees
• About the related Queensland bottle tree
• Compare flowering trees
• Small trees for urban blocks

Common questions

How big does it actually get?

About 5m tall and 3m wide in a garden, far smaller than a wild kurrajong. The grafted, compact habit is the whole point of this selection.

Will it handle frost?

Light frost only. An occasional light frost on an established tree is survivable, but repeated hard frosts will damage it, so cold districts are not suitable.

Is it evergreen?

Mostly. It holds its leaves in warm gardens, though it can thin or briefly shed foliage ahead of a heavy flowering, which is normal for the genus.

Are the roots a problem near paving?

Less so than a large shade tree, given the modest size, but Brachychitons develop a swollen root base with age. Allow 3m of clearance from paving, walls and pipes.