Antidesma parvifolium
Picked it up from my local landcare nursery as $2.50 tubestock in August.
(Sown in March potted up in April)
I’ve chucked it in a 125mm pot shortly after I got it and that’s it. A few liquid ferts since then.
I chose to have a crack at this one for bonsai because it had small leaves and lots of branches. That’s about it. It’s not one I have spent much time admiring in the wild, but perhaps I will now. It has a buxus kind of vibe to it, so I’m feeling ok about it’s potential for bonsai. Natural form is pretty scrubby, nothing particularly inspiring that I’ve seen so far, so perhaps not the best candidate for this comp. I chose it for the comp because it has come a fair way in a very short time and it appears to have a lot of advantages for a beginner. I also chose it because I expect I’ll be the only one entering this species, so it brings a bit of (bio)diversity to the comp, introduces people to another native, and hopefully encourages people to try different native species. There’s the ambition, we’ll see if it survives the first real work...
