Now this is one of my favorite small trees from Australia.  It is full of character, unruly but compact, and bursts forth with thousands of pink pompoms in summer.   Bees love it.  It will grow quite quickly and with virtually no irrigation.   I have four growing in sandy soil at the top of a hill but they do very well in that dry location with monthly irrigation.   Go to the bluffs in Santa Monica to see some really old melaleucas.  They have been pruned well to show their lovely papery trunks.  It should be given space as it will often take an unexpected direction and grow up, then sideways.  It's a wonderful small tree for a xeriscape garden and looks good with native California plants as well as cactus.