Calliandra haematocephala (Powderpuff) flower bud & flower

Lovely too!

What a colour, so pretty..

Very pretty! All the Calliandra species are starting to bloom now here. They’re all Fall - early Spring bloomers here.

Calliandra haematocephala is a very popular hedge shrub here. I like Calliandra surinamensis the best! It becomes huge, though.

Here they're definitely winter bloomers here, and sometimes they keep on blooming into early Spring. I also have the surinamensis, but it's been suffering a bit over the last year or so. It needs some pampering!

Wow! Very strange that C. surinamensis needs pampering. It usually thrives on neglect here. Maybe it’s because the wet season is reversed in both of our climates? The wet season here is in Winter, when it’s blooming.

I think it might be more because of its location in a particularly challenging spot with extremely poor soil - decomposed granite - and it cramped into a corner near large granite rocks! It was planted there before we moved in.

That sounds like that would be the problem. Calliandra typically likes pretty good soil.