This beast was desperate. Close out nursery sale, barely surviving in dry, hard soil. It hadn't seen water since the last rain and probably not much of that since the soil was too dry to allow absorption. For $5 I thought it was worth a chance. It survived the bare rooting and repotting, most likely totally grateful to finally get a regular decent drink. It is at the stage of photo 1 that you think you have made a mistake. This tree does not shoot back on old wood.
It really developed into a nice windswept. The oblong oval pot worked well to emphasise the windswept look. Eventually I sold the tree as there was little to do with it but maintenance. Because it would only shoot back near the foliage pads and I was interested in something I could really make changes with, it found a home elsewhere and the new owner is doing very well with it. This is a sale I have regretted a bit but I learned a lot with it and that's all that matters.
Kunzea Ambigua
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MelaQuin
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Kunzea Ambigua
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Last edited by MelaQuin on January 26th, 2009, 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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MelaQuin
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 1340
- Joined: November 7th, 2008, 2:16 pm
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Re: Kunzea Ambigua
Sure..... keep in mind that I don't have a photo of the tree when it was more fully developed... the last here is about 6 months before the foliage thickened. The new owner got styling advice and broke the top foliage pad into two - which looked quite nice. But please, tell me your thoughts. My recent haircut is far too short to allow me to pull my hair out.
Re: Kunzea Ambigua
I think there are some conflicts there that are to hard to explain. The trunk starts out in one direction and ends in another with the branches then suggesting windswept yet all the foliage is pointing straight up and even back in the opposite direction to the supposed wind direction in some cases. It may be better planted on a rough type of slab also. (Penny has some nice slabs that would be perfect, i seen em 
)The rock placements are very 2 dimensional and lack perspective. If you move the rock further towards the back it will give the composition a sense of depth, thus adding the third dimension.
If there are any decent roots/nabari in the front of the tree under the sweeping branches, they should be exposed. It will explain how the tree has managed to grasp the earth and keep its foothold despite the growth of the tree trying to collapse it.
In my vert i have laid the tree back further to bring the apex closer to being over the rootball and thinned and opened up the canopy a lot. Having a more open canopy will reflect a more aged tree whereas with a tight green mass just looks immature. I have reduced the length of the top branches also. The branches need to be redirected but i havent got the skills to do that with my old MS Photodraw program.
I am not familiar with this species at all, so the difficulties or advantages with them is unknown to me. So please take my comments and disregard them if you wish, i do appreciate you allowing me to be critical though. Windswept is quite a difficult style to pull off with any success, i have had a few over the years and ended up giving up and doing a complete restyle on them all. I would love to have a good one in my collection because they are beautifull and very moving when done right. Have you got Robert Steven's book? He is an absolute master at windswept. He says in his book of windswept style "Windswept style is not well represented by a slanting tree with all branches growing in one direction. Rather, it should suggest that the wind is blowing; it should present a more tangible representation of wind, achieved through proper technique. In the silence, there is movement, in the movement, there is rythm!" Robert Steven.
Regards
Peter
)The rock placements are very 2 dimensional and lack perspective. If you move the rock further towards the back it will give the composition a sense of depth, thus adding the third dimension.If there are any decent roots/nabari in the front of the tree under the sweeping branches, they should be exposed. It will explain how the tree has managed to grasp the earth and keep its foothold despite the growth of the tree trying to collapse it.
In my vert i have laid the tree back further to bring the apex closer to being over the rootball and thinned and opened up the canopy a lot. Having a more open canopy will reflect a more aged tree whereas with a tight green mass just looks immature. I have reduced the length of the top branches also. The branches need to be redirected but i havent got the skills to do that with my old MS Photodraw program.
I am not familiar with this species at all, so the difficulties or advantages with them is unknown to me. So please take my comments and disregard them if you wish, i do appreciate you allowing me to be critical though. Windswept is quite a difficult style to pull off with any success, i have had a few over the years and ended up giving up and doing a complete restyle on them all. I would love to have a good one in my collection because they are beautifull and very moving when done right. Have you got Robert Steven's book? He is an absolute master at windswept. He says in his book of windswept style "Windswept style is not well represented by a slanting tree with all branches growing in one direction. Rather, it should suggest that the wind is blowing; it should present a more tangible representation of wind, achieved through proper technique. In the silence, there is movement, in the movement, there is rythm!" Robert Steven.
Regards
Peter
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MelaQuin
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 1340
- Joined: November 7th, 2008, 2:16 pm
- Favorite Species: olives & natives
- Bonsai Age: 20
- Bonsai Club: Illawarra Bonsai Society, Bonsai Society of A
- Location: St George Area, Sydney Australia
- Been thanked: 1 time
Re: Kunzea Ambigua
I was thrilled to bits to plant this tree in this long, oblong pot and, eventually, get rid of both as I found the low sided, narrow and long pot very hard to use and it never stacked well in my limited cupboard space. It does suit the tree well, better than the photo shows, and I prefer it streaming in the wind than sky gazing. But a good effort to alter the design.
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anttal63
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Re: Kunzea Ambigua
i like the tree very nice lee. peter great makeover and putting it all down in words, well done i enjoyed that.
Regards Antonio:
Re: Kunzea Ambigua
Thanks Ant, glad you enjoyed it, i enjoyed doing it. I am very critical with my own trees also.anttal63 wrote:i like the tree very nice lee. peter great makeover and putting it all down in words, well done i enjoyed that.
Peter
