[Natural] Eucalyptus crebra - Jiro

[Jiro]

Species: Eucalyptus crebra - Narrow leaf Iron bark

Diameter: <1cm

Acquired: Bunnings

Cost: $16

Bunnings normally has a pretty poor selection of natives but it just so happened that the other day they had a few iron barks and scribbly gums. Thought I'd give the crebra a crack as the leaf size seems a good fit. Unusually with a gum the leaves aren't enormous in the juvenile phase, although I did make the assumption that wouldn't change with maturity.

I've not tried to bonsai a Euc before, although I did embark on attempting to field grow a spotted gum a couple of months back but it's base is too wide for this competition.

So far all I have done to the Crebra is put it in a large tub, fan the roots out laterally and a little loose wiring to get some movement in the trunk.

Big thank you to Rory for starting this comp, your hard work is appreciated!





*edits due to hassles with posting images... I'm struggling

[Rory]

Hi Jiro,

Excellent choice there good sir. One of my personal favourites of the Eucs. This is great material to use. I have about 10 of them myself. $16? Holly shishkabob, I need to buy shares in WES
They can tolerate so many conditions.

Yeah the mature leaves can grow quite big if you let it grow. This stock is fabulous for this comp. It will shoot back all over the tree after a trunk chop. The leaves reduce well and it has beautiful foliage.

This will thicken very quickly during the warmer months if you leave it in a large growing container.

[Jiro]

Sweet!

Thanks Rory, I thought it seemed like a good candidate. $16 bucks was definitely a bit steep for a little gum but it was there and I wanted and it was in great condition.

For reasons unknown I'm really struggling with posting photos and having them come up in a decent size on the post. The photos are a better size in the album on my profile so if I continue to struggle you can better judge the plant by looking at the album... if that is not too much a pain in the arse for you.

Also just wondering about the judging of the styling, is there freedom for me to just go for it and make anything interesting or do you specifically want it to look as though it was something you'd see in the bush? Which I'm all for.

There aren't a whole lot of Iron barks where I live and the pictures found on a google search, well they were all just straight up and down, perfect telegraph poles. Nothing like the twisting Angophoras in the remnant bush where I am.

[Rory]

Also just wondering about the judging of the styling, is there freedom for me to just go for it and make anything interesting or do you specifically want it to look as though it was something you'd see in the bush? Which I'm all for.

There aren't a whole lot of Iron barks where I live and the pictures found on a google search, well they were all just straight up and down, perfect telegraph poles. Nothing like the twisting Angophoras in the remnant bush where I am.

Hi Jiro,

Eucalypts come can in all kinds of styles in nature. Some are poles, some are big and gnarly, just let your imagination run free.
Remember, the 'members choice' awards are up to the members here to determine what they think is the most natural looking tree.

The 'judges choice' awards will presumably be looking at whether the tree looks like it would be something you'd see in the bush yes. But the fun is that of the judges selected, they too will have differing opinions of what they see as natural.

If it was just my vote alone I don't care if the stock has reverse taper, bar branching, up AND down branching, deadwood, scarce or randomly placed branching etc etc. You see this in nature all the time. To me if the tree looks quite naturally grown, it'll get my vote. But this will be subjective. You can just take a look at any Euc you want and style it the way you see fit if you like.