Bottle brush help

Hello, I recently bought a "Little John" dwarf bottlebrush and was wondering if it is ok to transplant it from the pot it came in

to the ground? I am in zone 8b and was worried that it might be too hot to transplant it right now even though it is a tropical

plant. How does it do when planted on the north face of a house in this zone?

I'm sorry but don't really know your zone and temp, however, bottle brush shrubs are normally tough and my only suggestion would be to soak your plant in a bucket of water before removing from the pot, about an hour should do it, make the hole really 3 times as wide and deep as the pot, add loads of manure / compost and a handful of multi purpose plant food to the mix, place the plant into the hole to the same depth at the mark on the stem shows where it was sitting in the pot, then backfill the hole with your mix of soil and compost, lightly firm in the soil around the roots so there is no air pockets, water again to soak the soil and add a mulch around the plant to help keep a little moisture in the soil / root area.

New plants are like babies, they need constant TLC, you wouldn't put a baby out in strong heat and not keep it's liquid count up, also if need be, you can always make a makeshift shelter / shade from either an old umbrella or a few canes with black plastic / or cloth, till the plant gets established keep sticking your finger into the soil around the plant to check it is damp under an inch down, if dry, you need to keep up the watering regime.
Goos luck, hope this helps, WeeNel.

Yes it's fine to plant in the ground. They like full sun.....(at least 6 to 8 hrs). They are drought tolerant once established, but as stated above, since it's a new plant.. be sure to check the soils moisture levels.
Bottle Brush do very well in South Texas. Be sure to protect it in winter during a freeze as I have had them die back from it. Don't be disappointed if the growth seems slow, that's normal.
They usually bloom once or twice a year.

Do you happen to know how far north a bottle brush will grow?? I used to live in Lake Jackson TX. I LOVE bottlebrush plants, but don't remember ever seeing any here. We do get freezes and snow in the winter here, but perhaps if a person grew it in a pot and brought the plant in for the winter....??

(Hello, Lily in Victoria! I feel like you're a former neighbor!!)

Thanks for your input!

What zone are you in? Here's one that's supposed to be hardy to zone 7 http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/74813/ but most of the rest are zone 8 or in some cases 9. Of course if you want one of the others (or if you're colder than zone 7) you could always try keeping it in a pot and bringing it in for the winter. I've never grown them in pots so I don't know if they do well as a container plant or not but if you really like them it's certainly worth a try.

Smiles :) Hi there Lazarpl... Be seeing ya in the forums I am sure.