[A Forest Tale] - SquatJar - Casuarina glauca stand

[SquatJar]

My first entry is a group of Casuarina Glauca seedlings I germinated from seed collected on my parents cattle farm in the Adelaide hills about a year ago. I aim to replicate the stand of 100+ trees in the back corner of the yard that had continued to grow thicker and thicker. Most of the trees seemed to have sprouted from root suckers and were competing with each other, so all grew very straight and tall.

About 4 or 5 trees were 600-900mm in diameter, maybe they were the pioneers? Most of the others were 20-300mm thick. When huddled inside on a cold wintry day/night the sound of the wind could be heard ripping through the 'needles' (leaves and branchlets). Reminding me of how cold and unbearable it was outside, and how nice it was sitting around the fire with a glass of aged red in hand.

The photo is from May 2019, not much has changed but they are thicker and there is a bit more variation in trunk size already. Likely due to genetics, root run and differing sunlight exposure. I will get an updated photo soon, unfortunately most of the seed that I scattered in the tray has germinated in two straight-ish lines. I will change this a little at the first repotting and I may add in a few others I germinated that are growing on in separate pots.

Adding extra meaning to this planned group is that as of the Adelaide hills fires a few weeks ago, this stand is completely gone, as are about 50% of the big old gum trees on the 160 hectare property. Thankfully the house was one of the few things that didn't burn, quite amazing as the vines growing under the verandah and a few of the pine posts are charred black.

I was lucky enough to collect a few of the larger and more interesting trees from the stand last year. About half are growing well, even ones collected with zero roots which is when I found out they were suckers.

Final thanks to MJL for organising the comp. There's no way I'd be posting my trees on the forum at this early stage of my bonsai life without the encouragement of this and other comps.

[MJL]

Another great choice here SquatJar. Welcome to the competition.

Final thanks to MJL for organising the comp. There's no way I'd be posting my trees on the forum at this early stage of my bonsai life without the encouragement of this and other comps.

Hey no problem at all. I am glad it has spurred you into action. Be assured, this a forum that encourages learning - competition or not.

People are welcoming and respectful, even when we make mistakes. And mistakes we (meaning 'I') continue to make.... for example, I recently air-layered ficus with no growth above the layer... oops, that ain't gonna work. I also chopped a older Juniper back way to hard and killed that ...(ouch).

While I am pretty sure people were shaking their heads in the background ... somehow even those farcical mistakes were treated with a grain of salt. Cool place hey.

Anyway, point being ... contribute, enjoy and learn. Thanks for participating. (By the way, if we destroy the odd tree in one of our bonsai forests .... it's not like we've killed our one and only bonsai tree; the group planting is just one tree down... ) In many ways, group plantings and forests can be far more forgiving ... but in many ways, they are more complex too.

As the saying goes .. "If a tree falls in the forest...does it even make sound?"

And on that note ... by for now.

[SquatJar]

This is one my few trees that seems to be growing well through our strange variable summer, most of the seedlings have easily doubled in girth

IMG_20200107_115952.jpg

[MJL]

Hi Squatjar,

Thanks for the update. One of the things I find interesting about creating forests from a group of seedlings is the natural variation in growth.You observe this in your initial post "..and there is a bit more variation in trunk size already. Likely due to genetics, root run and differing sunlight exposure."

Variation is also increased in the way we elect to manage/trim each tree in a setting too. With natural variation and our management, the differences can be substantive. Why is this important?

A few reasons come to mind:
1. Variation in trunk width creates a perception of age across the group setting and perception of age is so important in bonsai
2. It is is important for the grower to realise that - if you don't have access to different ages of trees - that is cool, natural variation will occur anyway
3. Sometimes we do have access to different width trees to bring together from the get go but take care that the tress aren't too different. I have been managing a Japanese Maple forest where I inserted a tree that was much older than the rest ... it is coming together now ... but initially the difference was too stark and the story ddi not work.

Finally, people often fan the trees forest setting out. I do too in some cases. it has the effect of trees on the outer edges looking for the sun from under the older, taller trees. It sometimes works but often looks a tad manufactured. With young plantings, I now avoid fanning trees because another variation that occurs when planting younger tress together is the way the roots interact and subtly push against each other and therefore affect the angles of the trees ... often these subtle, natural variations look more realistic.

I'll add this rider - I too am learning so the observations above are not intended as gospel. If other more experience growers see that I am providing patently misleading thoughts ... please correct the record for the benefit of all.