Leptospermum petersonii 'Lemon scented tea tree'

[DavidWilloughby]

Hi all,

I was fortunate to be given this great bit of material from one of the elder statesman of Illawarra Bonsai Society in late 2015 as he had no need or use for it. I let it sit for a year before looking at it as it was only dug the year before.

Lepto p. 1.jpg

*raw material Dec 2015

Lepto p July 2017.jpg

*July 2017

Lepto p 31 Dec 17.jpg

*after a trim today 31 Dec 2017 (please forgive me for the quality of the pic as its too tall for me to capture easy lol)

Happy how its progressed in such a short time, its a long way off yet as it has some maturing to do and this isn't a final pot, its only its first haha. It currently stands in height at 97cms.

My intention with this isn't a tree that goes by any ratio, with its upright nature, my goal is like many trees we see every day in or from our backyards. Who knows, this might end up on a slab with a backyard setting and paling fence (with cricket pitch too, for summer settings of course :p lol )

Any thoughts and comments are most welcomed.

Cheers

Willow

[anthonyW]

Simplicity is all we need in design sometimes, there is a fine line, but you get it, well done David and the extras with the pot..very nice.

cheers Anthony

[Boics]

Good start Willow.
Ive one of these myself.
Great material - I too are going for a similar "natural" style.
Keep us posted, in your care I'm sure this will progress nicely.

P.s. I've never cut to bare wood but feeding and pruning back to green usually promotes some adventitious buds.

[AGarcia]

I also have one of these and it grows very quickly when in a tray of water.

[Bad_meaning_good]

Love that tree, the natural effect makes it quite unique I think. Well done. Restraint is a true skill!

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

DavidWilloughby,

I also have started a planting of these early last year from some old nursery stock plants that were nutrient starved & almost dead (my favourite kind of find) Now the foliage is starting to grow back & fill out, I think they are looking OK - but I need to now find some balance.

So here comes the dumb question/s -
Is this tree keeping you busy by having to constantly thin out all it's new growth to create space?
From what I've been able to tell so far, they seem to only want to grow very scrubby & top heavy? (Could this then be used as an effective design feature???)
I don't have many natives, so any advice on your foliage maintenance you are willing to share would be very

I also have one of these and it grows very quickly when in a tray of water.

Yes sir - I can second that!

[Bonsai*beginner]

Hello ,John here ,I am new to the bonsai art just bought a leptospernum lemon the other day from a nursery and did a little bit of trimming (is that a good idea so soon) it is about 10” high at present and the soil ...is a little dry for my liking ,but will wait for you all to tell me what you use . Would it be a good idea also to leave it in the pot until the trunk gets a little thicker ,it is about 15mm as we speak .have tried to send fotos but they do not come thru for some reason .Cheers .