It's not advisable to plant trees near a septic tank because they will eventually cause trouble. Shrubs or perennials are a better bet.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/vgen/gardening-over-septic-tanks.htm
I love the look of a neatly manicured bottle brush, but am no longer able to get down on the ground to clip off the regrowth. Can the trunk be wrapped or coated with something to prevent regrowth? I have tried the black tar product but it didn't work. The bottle brush are very healthy. The pictures were taken at night with a flash.
Usually, plants that are pruned in a tree form eventually require little pruning to maintain the shape. It takes about 3 to 4 years. Wrapping wouldn't look very good nor would it be advised.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/shgen/pruning-a-shrub-into-a-tree.htm
I do not like the tree, it is too messy. I want to take it out and plant something else.
Typically, this is done by a professional. Tree removal does carry a risk to life depending on the size of the tree. This article will help:
Hi - my bottlebrush tree’s branches are too heavy and we have had one big branch break already. How and where should we trim the branches. I live in Namibia
Yearly pruning will be helpful in controlling size and falling apart. Here is an article that will help:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/bottlebrush/pruning-bottlebrush-plants.htm
No green on bush, leVes brown and falling off. Do I cut bush down
I would do a scratch test, first. It may be shocked. A light pruning may help, but make sure that it is able to recover, first.
Here are some articles that will help:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/tgen/tree-scratch-test.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/bottlebrush/pruning-bottlebrush-plants.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/bottlebrush/page/3
The extreme unusual temperatures in Texas 2 weeks ago burnt my 3 bottle brush trees. They were at least 6 feet tall. I had to go trim them because the ice and snow were too heavy to support the limbs. Now they are really burnt and I'm wondering if they will come back. And is it okay to trim them further in the hopes that they will rebound. They are 5 year old trees and the cold was never a problem before now. We live in Bastrop, Texas which is normally mild.
We've had a number of questions like yours because of the unexpected cold snap. If your temps didn't go below 10 or 15 degrees F., your shrub may have survived. You can scratch off some of the wood on a branch to see if it is green below. If so, it is still alive. If not, it may regrow from the roots, in which case you can do a hard prune. (I would wait till after it flowered to do any major pruning.) These articles should help.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/tgen/winter-damaged-trees-shrubs.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/bottlebrush/pruning-bottlebrush-plants.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/shgen/rejuvenation-pruning-tips.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/bottlebrush/growing-bottlebrush-plants.htm
We "lost" our bottlebrush trees during the freeze in Houston this year. Everything we cut back to the ground was dead. We left them just to see what would happen and 3 of the 4 have new growth. But, will these automatically grow into trees again, do they have to be "trained" or pruned for them to become trees or will they just be shrubs? Thanks!
They need to be trained into a shrub or tree. Those are suckers coming up and are typically removed from a tree. If the tree is in its native form you should be able to regrow without problems. However, if your tree was a hybrid or grafted, you may get something different from what you expect. Here is more:
http://ekps.tamu.edu/details?id=50
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/st110
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/tgen/can-grafted-trees-revert-to-their-root-stock.htm
https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/1993/7-28-1993/hybrid.html