But when Mr Webb undertook his weekly care ritual for the bottlebrush yesterday, he was devastated to find all the brushes scattered on the ground.

Initially, he thought the tree – which stands in a lane at the entrance to the Bathurst Chase car park –  had been vandalised, but now he fears the tree is being damaged by cars parking too close to it.

“I thought at first kids must have pulled them off. I thought ‘those little brats’,” he said.

“I went back down in disgust to have another look at the tree and I think cars are parking too close to it and knocking the bottlebrushes off.

“It’s very disappointing.” 

Mr Webb said he took it upon himself to start caring for the bottlebrush when he saw it had been neglected.

“I just started watering it every week and fertilising it. I’ve gone down one day every week for eight years to look after it and last week, for the first time, it started flowering,” he said.

“I was pretty excited.”

Mr Webb will continue to nurture the tree.

“I’m grateful any [bottlebrushes] came out at all; it’s taken eight years,” he laughed.

Mr Webb isn’t a gardener, but took an interest in the tree because “it wasn’t getting looked after”.