another olive

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shibui
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another olive

Post by shibui »

I'm pretty sure this is a SA olive. One of a number brought over by a visiting friend some years ago before I realised we had an abundance of these much closer to home.
Not having much room at the time I planted them in some spaces in the grow beds - and there they stayed for about 5 years with only occasional pruning to control the longest growth.
Last winter I decided they needed to go to make room for more grow on stock. After digging a couple were deemed just too ugly and consigned to the bonfire (too big for the chipper) but I selected 2 with possible potential.

This afternoon I found a bit of time and decided to see what was under the new shoots. I think this one may have some potential.
I didn't take a before photo so you'll just have to imagine lots of suckers all over the base and trunks.

Finally got the camera out after starting to shorten the middle trunk.
P1190006.JPG
Change of angle and tilt gives a better perspective and trunk line. the major trunk is now more dominant.
P1190008.JPG
Some rough carving with the arbortech mini to give some taper and profile to the stumps and it starts to look like it may become something worth while.
P1190010.JPG
The current shoots are a bit small and still a bit weak to wire so I'll leave that for another time.
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delisea
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Re: another olive

Post by delisea »

Interesting material Neil, Any ideas about styling?
The Europeans appear to be styling their olives like the Japanese style junipers. I wonder what people think of this?
Noel_Trophy_2013_1.jpg
Noelanders-Trophy-2018-10.jpg
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Matthew
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Re: another olive

Post by Matthew »

delisea wrote:Interesting material Neil, Any ideas about styling?
The Europeans appear to be styling their olives like the Japanese style junipers. I wonder what people think of this?
Noel_Trophy_2013_1.jpg
Noelanders-Trophy-2018-10.jpg
Cheers,
Symon

Some Wicked dead wood on that bottom olive pic . I like those designs a lot :tu:
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Re: another olive

Post by Watto »

That has really good bones Shibui and a squat powerful bonsai with interesting deadwood could evolve.
Thanks for the post and an occasional update would be appreciated.
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Matt S
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Re: another olive

Post by Matt S »

The Europeans appear to be styling their olives like the Japanese style junipers. I wonder what people think of this?
When Rui Ferreira was here last year he talked to us a lot about Olives. He reckons that in Europe the fashion for training Olives like Junipers is passing and there's now a preference for more natural styles. Having never seen a truly ancient Olive like they have in Europe my early attempts with Olives tend to look stylised with discrete foliage pads. The trees I'm working on now are much more open and wild looking. I'll continue to have trees that reflect both styles but it's an interesting topic that's been discussed before.

Anyway, nice work Neil. Tipping the tree really changed it for the better, lots more energy.

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Re: another olive

Post by shibui »

I've never really appreciated the juniper style olives so I'm glad to hear the fad is passing.
As to what an olive should look like I'm in the same boat as Matt S - never seen a really old olive but I should study the older trees where we collect now. They have been growing feral there for somewhere near 100 years and some are enormous so there could be some clues?
I must admit to styling my other trees into dense pads of foliage and was probably thinking along similar lines with this one.

Any ideas or possibilities will be appreciated.
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Boics
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Re: another olive

Post by Boics »

Unfortunately no view of the canopy but this one came to mind when you mentioned old olives!

Churchill island off Phillip island.

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Matt S
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Re: another olive

Post by Matt S »

Here are some nice not-looking-like-juniper olives. The first one is particularly nice.
olive not junpier1.jpg
olive not junpier2.jpg
olive not junpier3.jpg
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Re: another olive

Post by Boics »

Yes.
That first one is a treat!
Lovely tree, some good ideas in here now Shibui!
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Re: another olive

Post by tinto »

A feral olive from a horse paddock back of Sydney. carved and new regrown branches.
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Re: another olive

Post by hugh grant »

delisea wrote:Interesting material Neil, Any ideas about styling?
The Europeans appear to be styling their olives like the Japanese style junipers. I wonder what people think of this?
Noel_Trophy_2013_1.jpg
Noelanders-Trophy-2018-10.jpg
Cheers,
Symon
Interesting observation
This makes me think ... a question to all ... what is the indicator here suggesting that these are styled like “Japanese junipers” ? Keen to here peoples thoughts
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Re: another olive

Post by Beano »

Hugh - interesting question! As a relative newbie to bonsai and also someone with no interest in junipers, to me they look like “Japanese junipers” because they resemble what I think are the most common bonsai examples of more advanced junipers. They all have such extremely large amounts of fluorescent white dead wood to the extent that they look like tanuki! Perhaps that isn’t a true representation of juniper bonsai or Japanese bonsai but there’s so much of that same style in junipers, well, on the internet anyway.
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Re: another olive

Post by Keep Calm and Ramify »

Yep - Beano just about summed it up for me too :yes:

Thanks to Tinto for posting his awesome feral !
Last edited by Keep Calm and Ramify on February 26th, 2018, 5:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Matt S
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Re: another olive

Post by Matt S »

what is the indicator here suggesting that these are styled like “Japanese junipers” ?
As mentioned by Beano, the prominent display of deadwood, but I'd also add the distinct foliage pads and the downward sweeping branches, neither of which is typical of old wild olives:
wild olive 1.jpg
wild olive 2.jpg
wild olive 3.jpg
There's no branches-weighed-down-by-snow here! No strong negative spaces, it's a much more open look.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the trees posted by Symon. They just don't represent olives as seen in nature. Personally I think there's merit in both approaches but the trend is definitely towards more natural forms. Mike will be pleased!

Matt.
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Re: another olive

Post by treeman »

hugh grant wrote:
delisea wrote:Interesting material Neil, Any ideas about styling?
The Europeans appear to be styling their olives like the Japanese style junipers. I wonder what people think of this?
Noel_Trophy_2013_1.jpg
Noelanders-Trophy-2018-10.jpg
Cheers,
Symon
Interesting observation
This makes me think ... a question to all ... what is the indicator here suggesting that these are styled like “Japanese junipers” ? Keen to here peoples thoughts
It's pretty obvious I would have thought Hugh.

Actually they are not styled like Japanese junipers. They are styled like Japanese juniper bonsai.
The mandatory ''main branch sweeping down''. The rounded dome heads. The dense manicured ''pads''. The lack of visible tertiary branches. Al very easy, predictable and boring. Charming but boring and done to death.
I have many such predictable and boring trees.... :palm:
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