Metrosideros carminea prefers warm moist habitats and grows up to 15 m. long or more, with the main stem several centimetres in diameter.

It climbs in the same way as ivy, sending out short adventitious roots to adhere to the trunks of host trees, penetrating and clinging to rough surfaces.

It is generally available from most retail nurseries in New Zealand, although most plants sold are from adult cuttings which grow into shrubs rather than climbers.

Another cultivar, Metrosideros ' Carousel' is an attractive dwarf shrub useful as a groundcover, having glossy lime-green leaves with broad gold margins and small carmine-red flowers in spring.

Those propagated vegetatively from mature plants, typically by cuttings or layering, usually develop into small shrubs or groundcovers.