Plant in full sun to part sun in a well-draining soil where it is drought tolerant once established and cold hardy down to about 20 degrees F. Leptospermum scoparium cultivars are unforgiving to drying out so make sure to irrigate young plants to get them established before backing off watering. These plants are beautiful in the garden and make good cut flowers when large branches are cut.

Leptospermum scoparium is found throughout New Zealand and particularly common on the drier east coasts of the North and South Islands, and in Australia in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. The genus name is derived from the Greek words 'leptos' meaning “thin”, “fine” or “slender” and 'sperma' meaning “seed”, referring to the thin brown seeds of the genus and the specific epithet is an adjective meaning "broom-like" or "pertaining to a broom" that is derived from the Latin word 'scopa', the word for a broom or brush made of twigs and is in reference to this species typical upright twiggy or broom-like structure.

Fossil evidence suggests Leptospermum scoparium originated in Australia and migrated to New Zealand via long-distance seed dispersal long ago and most of the showy cultivated selections being of New Zealand origin. Of the cultivars we have grown, only Leptospermum scoparium 'Star Carpet' is of Australian origin.

Many of the showy Leptospermum cultivars grown in California can be traced back to Dr. Walter E. Lammerts, a plant breeder working at the University of California Los Angeles and later at Descanso Gardens and this is one of his cultivars. Lammerts is credited with the pioneering hybridization of the genus in the 1940s by crossing the striking red-flowered Leptospermum scoparium 'Nichollsii', a selection that came from a naturally occurring red flowering plant found in 1898 by Mr W. P. Spencer at Sandilands Station, north of Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. Its name honors Mr William Nicholls, who was wearing a flowering sprig of Spencer's find in a buttonhole when visiting Nairn & Sons nursery in Christchurch in 1904 or 1905. Mr Robert Nairn germinated seed from capsules on this sprig that he got from Nicholls, resulting in a few red flowering plants, the best which had with deep crimson flowers and bronze foliage, Nairn named after Nicholls.

Plants of Leptospermum scoparium 'Nichollsii' made their way to England by 1908 and later its genetics imparted the red color into many future cultivars. Some consider it to be the single most influential parent plant in history. It was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Merit in 1912. Dr. Walter E. Lammerts used this outstanding red flowering plant in his breeding program with F1 crosses that brought together red-colored flower and double-petalled flower varieties and his F2 progeny provided a range of flower colors and degrees of doubling as well as variation in flower size, extent of flowering, and habit and this cultivar, Leptospermum scoparium 'Snow White', is one of his hybrids. Lamberts most famous hybrid cultivars was Leptospermum scoparium 'Ruby Glow', which received the California Horticultural Society Award of Merit in 1947. We grew this plant from 1980 until 2005 - still one of the best double white cultivars, but many other nurseries were growing it and popularity of all of the tea tree varieties seemed to become somewhat diminished. 

The information displayed on this page about Leptospermum scoparium 'Snow White' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.