It comes from New South Wales and Queensland, growing in mild, moist areas and light soils, but has not needed protection from frost in the Australian National Botanic Gardens and has survived droughts. In extreme cold exposed plants can look chilled.
Watered shrubs are luxuriant and full of long, straight tip growths.
Really heavy watering or high rainfall brings beautiful large, soft flowers in profusion, but plants may droop, revealing tough papery branches. The branches recover, however, by curving inwards again and pruning is seldom necessary to keep a shapely plant. In the Australian National Botanic Gardens, plants of this species have reached over 1.5 m high in a very enclosed position among taller shrubs. Some of a similar age are nearly flat-topped, or irregular small shrubs under 1 m. Specimens in drier conditions in full sun, have become compact 1m high shrubs at 10 years old, tending to develop short trunks. Growth is in tufts of thin stems towards the branch ends and the bare wood has many clusters of old seed capsules.