Some little Aussie starters in Spain

[Starfox]

So inspired by Rory's natural comp and the fact that spring seems to be upon us here now I thought I'd post a few recent additions in a thread with the idea of progressing along a similar time frame as the competition. Having recently found an excellent supplier for young Australian natives I kind of have a number of new trees now and here are some of them.

The first one is a Melaleuca linariifolia.

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Second a Callistemon viridiflorus/Melaleuca virens.

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It's very cool and has really small tight growth to start with, looks a bit whorly too.

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A Banksia praemorsa wine form.

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And a little multi trunk Callistemon/Melaleuca flavovirens.

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Basically they all need to grow on so today I will pot them up in larger nursery containers and I think by the time I have seen some flowers then they should all be ripe for a cut back and some wire and the night time temps should be 15c+ by then.
I have a Casaurina I can add too but can't find the pics. The place I got them from have a huge choice of Aussies and they also stock rainbow Eucs so no doubt when they are back in stock I'll add a few more natives too.

[MJL]

On ya Starfox - I love the fact that you’re banging in some natives all the way over on the Costa Blanca! I wonder - is the bonsai scene in Spain is as creative as the food scene?


Bonsai teaches me patience.
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[Starfox]

Cheers MJL, I'm starting to get quite a little collection of Aussie natives here. Guess it's my way of dealing with homesickness.

And yeah most certainly Spain's bonsai scene is pretty impressive, many great artists who quite often take home major awards from the big shows over here.
David Benavente is one that springs to mind, his collection is apparently even more impressive in person.
https://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/benavente

[Ryceman3]

Keeping the Aussie spirit alive in downtown Spain Starfox... !
I remember reading you were moving to France in the not so distant future, just wondering how this affects your bonsai collection... both in terms of what you can take and how the changes in climate will effect the trees that go with you (if at all)? Good luck with these guys ... love a Mel - love a native!

[MJL]

Starfox! Thank you. How limited is my knowledge - I had never heard or seen this bloke ... everyone should watch this video; probably everyone has and I am the last in the world to know. Excuse my ignorance everyone.

What a garden; what a garden! What an attitude! I love what this gentleman says in the last minute of the video. I love nearly every a tree I see in this video.

Geez - Starfox - that garden is what - 400+ km away from you? Get there - tomorrow. Make a trip of it and head across to San Sebastián for the food too. And then return to the garden on your way home.

Do you get the sense I love that garden... cheers for sharing the video.



Bonsai teaches me patience.
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[Starfox]

Keeping the Aussie spirit alive in downtown Spain Starfox... !
I remember reading you were moving to France in the not so distant future, just wondering how this affects your bonsai collection... both in terms of what you can take and how the changes in climate will effect the trees that go with you (if at all)? Good luck with these guys ... love a Mel - love a native!

Yeah we should of been there by now but after cancelling all our plans in Spain we realised that the move wasn't exactly the most sensible, less money, no house, higher cost of living plus we still would have a mortgage here so it wasn't going to be easy. That and my wife is French and she is not so thrilled to move back anyway so we decided to stay for the term of her contract with the plan to move back to Australia at that point.

I did plan on taking all my trees with me and hope for the best, I think only the tropicals would of had issues but once we decided to stay it was kind of a relief so I ordered more trees. lol
Funny thing is it was while researching the move I found the nursery in France offering loads of Aussies that I cant find in Spain so now that is my go to shop.
I have already come to terms with the fact I will have to part with everything when we move back though and I may not see a finished product during that time but I'm OK with it and will always have my pots.

Starfox! Thank you. How limited is my knowledge - I had never heard or seen this bloke ... everyone should watch this video; probably everyone has and I am the last in the world to know. Excuse my ignorance everyone.

What a garden; what a garden! What an attitude! I love what this gentleman says in the last minute of the video. I love nearly every a tree I see in this video.

Geez - Starfox - that garden is what - 400+ km away from you? Get there - tomorrow. Make a trip of it and head across to San Sebastián for the food too. And then return to the garden on your way home.

Do you get the sense I love that garden... cheers for sharing the video.



Bonsai teaches me patience.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A trip to Madrid is on the cards at some point, need a new passport so it has to happen. Would love to drag the family along so they can see someone with some actual skills and high quality trees. Don't think he has any Aussie native though.

[terryb]

Cheers MJL, I'm starting to get quite a little collection of Aussie natives here. Guess it's my way of dealing with homesickness.

And yeah most certainly Spain's bonsai scene is pretty impressive, many great artists who quite often take home major awards from the big shows over here.
David Benavente is one that springs to mind, his collection is apparently even more impressive in person.
httpss://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/benavente

In the last photo, bottom right is a glimpse of the scots pine, that Watto posted here viewtopic.php?f=25&t=26812&start=30

[Starfox]

A little update of sorts, not much going on aside from growing but a couple of observations at least.

First the C.viridiflorus, it put on a lovely flower show earlier in Spring. The colour was amazing.

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I then cut the two trunks back to the lowestish branch to see if it would back bud and it has...

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So that's all good, I guess from here on it will be grow and chop for a while but if I can get a show of flowers every year I'd be happy with that.

The other update is for the C.flavovirens. I have not really done anything to it and it has exploded with buds and really wants to clump out with out any cutting back.
Reading up on this species they seem to be a fairly wirery, thin and spaced out species that want to clump. Characteristics that one wouldn't normally aim for but it could make for an interesting tree with a difference. It would appear to respond well but maybe it would be too much work. Not overly sure what to do with it yet. It hasn't flowered or even look to be making any so I may give it a cut back.

So this is all the growth that Spring seems to have induced, plenty of shoots and stem buds at least.

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The Mel and Banksia I don't have much to report other than they are alive and well, the Mel I cut back hoping for buds, it has slightly but not anywhere near as many or where I would of liked and the Banksia I'll probably cut back soon.

[shibui]

In case you are not aware, Callistemon flower on the tips of last summer shoots so if you want flowers, stop pruning by mid summer. Normal maintenance is to prune really hard after flowering, maybe an early summer trim then leave them alone until spring flowering.
If you are developing ramification it is probably more productive to forego flowers and prune more often through the growing season.
To grow trunks let everything grow as much as needed because we know it will bud on old wood after heavy pruning.

Well done keeping the banksia praemorsa alive. Really great flowers but they do not seem to appreciate the climate on my side of the continent.

[Ryceman3]

Always nice to see some growth and progression at this time of year... Spain has its benefits, it’s getting a little chilly here!
Surprised the Mel Linariifolia didn’t bud back significantly, I would’ve put money on that, there’s always a surprise where you don’t expect it I guess. Thanks for the post.

[Starfox]

Cheers guys, that is my normal plan, cut after flowering and see what happens and then take it from there. Especially with the species I don't know much about so half of it is observing. My biggest issue is time really, I probably wont have enough of it in Spain to see my trees in bonsai pots(some if I'm lucky) so I'm hesitant to grow material out or do any major trunk chops these days as by the time it's grown out we'll be on a plane somewhere else, that said half my trees are trunk chopped and I have more seedlings than I know what to do with,lol. This is not ideal but it is what it is and I'm in a happy spot now with my trees. Plus if every time I do any work on them I can make them more interesting then I'm learning and that should bode well for when I have access to better stock.

The praemorsa seems to be doing fine for now, it still has summer to get through and that may be a tougher test. Not having much luck with cuttings from it though.

Always nice to see some growth and progression at this time of year... Spain has its benefits, it’s getting a little chilly here!
Surprised the Mel Linariifolia didn’t bud back significantly, I would’ve put money on that, there’s always a surprise where you don’t expect it I guess. Thanks for the post.

Yeah we have finally seen the back of winter now, pool is still a bit too chilly but shouldn't be long. Gets cold over winter though, don't like that much.
I would of thought the Mel would of gone crazy too, maybe timing was off or maybe it will shoot more over summer.

[terryb]

That is really nice contrast in colour between the leaves and flowers of your Callistemon. Those flowers really pop!

[Starfox]

Just an update of sorts. Summer is in full swing here at the moment, a balmy 35 degrees today so not a great deal going on with the above trees, all are still alive, happy and growing. The C viridiflorus push out a second flush of flowers after the cut back and looks to be building another set too but that is about it.

I did however pick a few more young ones up so figured I'd place them in here too.

First up a Melaleuca quinquenervia. Cut back with a bit of wire, hoping it will bud out.

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Next a Corymbia maculata, just some wire, will wire again get even more movement in there. Probably do nothing but let it grow for some years.

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A couple of Banksia's, integrifolia and ericifolia. They have been potted up and cuttings taken for now. Will probably cut back to the first growth hoping for more buds lower down.

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And a bushy little Eucalyptus viminalis, it needs a good feed by the look of it but it's still pliable enough to wire up so will do that. Have potted this up too out of the small pot.

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So overall plenty of stuff to grow out and keep me busy. A little dirty on the nursery though as I had been holding off until they got more Rainbow Eucs in. I checked when I placed my order and nothing, trees arrive I look again and they are back in stock but they are closing for summer holidays. Guess I'll have to make another order and pick a couple more Oz natives up while I'm at it.

[shibui]

You don't need to hope for buds on banksia. Both those species will bud on old, bare wood if you prune them hard enough which means you can let them grow as long as you like then cut back with confidence.

[Starfox]

I did cut the Banksia's back in the end, it was getting a bit warm so waited until evening.