AusBonsai

Howdy folks,

A neighbour has a weeping gum tree, I think it is a Eucalyptus caesia, Silver Princess - at least that's what the Google machine told me when I looked up weeping gums and matched a picture. This video helps explain the nature of the tree - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3MVgjPRvpI

Has anyone tried to bonsai such a tree - it's leaves are very long and gum nuts quite big but I think it could be quite beautiful as a stand alone Bonsai.

Any thoughts?

Mark

PS - I have a branch and some gum nuts, how would I go about germinating those? I'll look online but again, any thoughts are welcome.

Hi MJL,

Check this for propagating Eucalypts http://anpsa.org.au/eucalypt.html

Hi MJL
E caesia is certainly a beautiful species in so many ways: flower colour, fruits, peeling bark (minirichi style), weeping branches and more.
I've tried it as bonsai, but was not too happy. The leaves are large and sparse and didn't adapt well to bonsai culture. Perhaps I should have tried a much larger size of bonsai, say 1.5-2m tall, then things would have looked much better. Sometimes you should just adapt your horticulture to your tree .

I had much better success with the 'type' species: E caesia subsp caesia (I don't think the subspecies are recognised as such anymore). This variant has smaller, finer leaves, still retains the branch, leaf and flower colours, and the minirichi bark too. It just isn't weeping. It grows very well in bonsai cultivation and in the 'usual' sizes.

As for the weeping form, 'Silver Princess', to get the weeping branches is a bit of a challenge. They naturally bend under their own weight, but in a small size, the strength of the branches is sufficient to hold their weight without bending much. To wire them in place is possible, but the result always seemed so contrived to me. But others may well like it.

Thanks for the youtube link. Shows the characters well. Would add though, that they use the common name 'gungurru', which is incorrect, though widely applied. That wonderful WA eucalypt scientist, Stephen Hopper, who originally, with Ian Brooker, described subspecies 'magna' (silver princess), has written in the book 'Soul of the Desert', that Gungurru is properly used for E woodwardii, not E caesia. The mistake was corrected as long ago as 1980. Just goes to show how long it can take to put a record straight.

In some places in the East these grow OK but don't seem to like my area much. Probably need to consider the natural habitat of E. caesia - just a handful of isolated exposed granite rocks on the edge of the desert (far eastern WA wheat belt). These trees grow in the cracks in these huge rocks and receive occasional water from rain running off the rock. They may take extra water in a free draining mix but I don't think they will stand for having wet feet for long.
Thanks for the extra info about the species being better in Canberra Roger. I think I brought some seed back from last trip when we saw these in situ. Maybe they will adapt better than previous attempts?

Terryb, Shibui and Kunzea - thanks for taking the time to respond; all the info and links are appreciated Your respective depth of knowledge is fantastic - thank you for sharing. Cheers, Mark


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