We had a few of our bottle brushes mowed to the ground a couple years ago and they are all growing healthily and have gotten over 5' tall in the time since the 'crime.' We are just letting them grow in a bush form, but I think they would be more than vigorous enough to train into a tree form if we wanted to. I would follow calistoga's advice and add to it just be patient, it's hard but a lot of times the best thing for an injured plant is to give it some time to grow. Good luck!

well, here is the plant now...it is most definately, alive! It has been outside all summer (if you can call it summer as we have missed out severely on sun/heat this year). I think all the rain we have had has suited it. Last year, I think it dried out too much as I was afraid of over watering it in the cooler temps, it also succumbed to scale insects which did it no favours at all. At present it is clean and healthy. My question is, do I risk it outside (still potted) in a sheltered spot and pull it into the g/h if it seems like getting too cold? I am dubious about this as most of the growth at the moment hasn't hardened off and ripened, a lot of the leaves are still bronze/soft/downy and the new stems are also quite soft. I don't think we will have that much sun now at this stage to ripen it before the temps dip. Help, I don't want to 'almost' loose it again! It has already used up several of it's lives. Gill. Here is a link that might be useful: previous post

You need a picture and you use to be able to post pictures through Photobucket, I did this with a picture of my flowering Banksia coccinea about 18 months ago, but now, try as I might I cant manage it, seems the've changed the procedure. If anybody knows the current method please let us all know. Why do they complicate things?

It's a long time since you posted this, bossyvossy so I hope you get this. I think you'll find any branches you prune will result in further shoots so you'll need to keep pruning shoots in order to maintain a single trunk. I suspect your pruning efforts might help the canopy to flourish. If you're into pruning go for it.