5 year old seedling Clerondendron Literati

[Bretts]

I bought this from a local Nursery almost 5 years ago. Although it was a Ray Nesci starter. Original price was I think $6. It was tagged as Taiwan maple which I soon found was obviously wrong. I did work out the species at one stage but have since forgotten. It seems to be evergreen tropical with delicate white flowers.

It has gone through various styling changes over the years which has left a fairly interesting trunk which I think will work well for literati.

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[Bretts]

Ive had the idea for this tree for a while now and was just waiting for the contest to start and some time to do it.

Here is the tree styled and out of the pot.

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And a picture showing the branches that where removed.

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about 50/50 akadama and crushed terracotta with a sprinkle of dynamic lifter.

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I thinned out the right branch a little after Potting it up. I think that branch needs the movement changed a little(looks a bit straight) but this will do for now. I read some where about Literati that an angled trunk works well with curved branches so that is the idea I have at the moment. The pot is one of mine and seemed like a good idea to get a feel for what pot might work next year. I suits the tree better than I thought. I will get a better picture when I feel comfortable putting it in the sun again
I am unsure but at the moment I am treating it like a tropical that should be repotted late spring. Growth started on the tree a couple of weeks ago so it may have been better a week ago. I have sprayed and watered with super dooper snake oil called Stimulate. I will continue this until I see it gain vigor and will keep in the shade with extra care in the watering.

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[Bretts]

I love this section circled it gives the impression that the branch above it has stressed the tree and it is about to break giving me the feeling that I like in literati. It stands out in pictures

I will be working on making this branch heavier to accentuate this.

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[Bretts]

I knew some one must know what it is. Thanks Mela
I like the idea that it will need heaps of pruning, compared to my other entries, it puts me in with a chance for the 1 year time frame
It is funny though as this is 5 years old 300mm high and 20mm trunk diameter.
Although it can have quite rampant growth as can be seen by comparing the picture with the white tin background taken a couple of weeks ago to the current picture before styling. It seems from Ray that it is our cold winter that is holding it back. I had it inside the first year as I thought it was a fig but since then it spends winter in the shade house and loses most of it's leaves.
I enjoyed a laugh with Ray that you thought it was funny as a Literati but he thinks it should work fine. He has one as a mini. In fact he thought a literati with one of these was interesting. I had to call him as I thought he would be interested to know what tree I was trying to identify.

He mentioned that they are not grown for their flowers as bonsai as they must be allowed to grow very leggy to get flowers. I guess that's why I haven't seen many in a long time.
Thanks again Kindly Mela that made my day

[Pup]

Brett what I find disturbing is the apex. All other parts has clean movement consistant with nice flowing lines. Then two branches at the same level ( in the picture ) going in total disharmony.

Just a thought. Cheers Pup

Edit I have just had anther look. If you shortened the top branch, on the left that might work better.

[Bretts]

Thanks Pup the top area gave me concern as well.
The branch on the apex to the right is actually a back branch split into two secondary branches. I already removed a side branch from this spot. They are very fresh and wired with too thick wire so I could only manipulate them to a certain degree.
I also have a small half dormant bud at the back lower down that may work if I was to remove this top back branch altogether.
I agree that the length of the apex branch to the left will be a big factor in the balance of the literati. I will keep considering it as I fill out the design.


There is an opportune bud at the top of the curve of the left apex branch. From Deborah's sketches it seems possible that this could be used as an apex?
You can see it in the picture if you draw a line almost vertically up from where the first left branch exits the trunk.
So still a few options to consider.

Thanks for the input

[Bretts]

I removed that top right branch not long after the first styling. Since then the optune bud at the top right back has turned into a branch. I also have three branches on the top to choose from to make an Apex.

It is a little hard to see the line at the moment. I will give this a quick trim and maybe a little more wire. I will start by trimming the three choices for the apex but I think it will end up only being one of them but I need to give this more thought.

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[Bretts]

A quick trim a little more wire and you can see where the lines are. The top left branch looks a bit heavy at the moment. It seems to be a bit confused where to grow there So I am waiting for some extension and then I will hit it hard.

The two right hand branches (one also acting as back branch) are pretty close together and there may be a little too much negative space above them. Maybe once the left is thinned out this won't be an issue. I am also hoping that a branchlet from the top back branch will fill some of this space.
Anyway I am loving this tree it is always fun to work with.

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Oh I am also having trouble finding the line for the first right branch. I keep thinking it needs to come down sharper closer to the trunk but when I do that it seems to become unbalanced. To heavy on the left!

[Petra]

The first branch could duplicate the top left branch.The 2nd branch right side turn upwards.
Sorry for my discription, im never any good at explaining. Take a look at my drawing it may inspire you, and then it may not. The left side of my brain is working overtime. And for the life of me tonight i cannot work out any of the virtual programs.

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[Bretts]

Thanks for the Virt Petra. I think I can see a literati lady in there but I don't think it utilises the movement in the trunk well enough.

I was just taking an update picture and I think I found a better line for the right branch. I did find that the right branch was better in close to the trunk. Before the picture I put a heavier wire at the beginning of that branch as I noticed it may look better with the very base of that branch bent down for the mentioned reason and it was obscuring the new back branch Wire overlaps in wrong direction but wired for the tree not the picture

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[Bretts]

After entering this tree in the Ausbonsai Native contest

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I had been considering my Ausbonsai Mudlark pot for this and considering some feedback given from Kunzea I decided I should try it even though it had only recently been reopotted.
Kunzea suggested a a smaller pot and more movement in the branches to match the trunk.
I had considered the straight branches as adding another line to the tree compared to the curved trunk. I now consider this as a misunderstanding of what the more lines the better in literati means. Hmm Maybe I can ask Robert Stevens that next time he is here
So I tightened the loop as planned after viewing the contest entry pic and gave the branches a bit more movement at the same time as trying the new pot.
I think it looks better but still plenty to try and has a long way to go

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I will keep a close eye on it over Winter as the cold does slow it down some.

Edit: I did try to lean the tree to the left more but the roots in this pot would not allow. Thought it would be intresting to see at a different angle but I don't think I like it a little too static

If anyone has pot ideas for this It would be appreciated

[Bretts]

maybe more liKe this?

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Edit: Na looks too unstable in this pot? I also don't like the curve in the bottom left branch. Time to rest but maybe the next wiring

[Bretts]

This has taken some time to recover from our cold Winter this year. I had the tree inside for some time over Winter and it did not like it much. Although I reckon it might have liked it out in the shade house even less with my figs copping there worst hammering from the frost I can remember. I think under the back verandah will now be this trees position over future Winters.
I thought I might lose the lower left branch and although it teased me with some new growth a new secondary branch has become dominant further back on that branch which I think will now be utilized as the new leader for that branch. I have seriously considered removing this branch all together anyway but still not sure.
The tree is starting to pick up vigor and although I already repotted the tree mid September I am considering doing another repott in the next few weeks as this is probably a better time to repot this species and there will be little room for growth in that new little pot.
So now it is just a matter of timing. Balancing top growth root growth with the health to complete a couple more trims and a final neat rewire before the end of December for final presentation.

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[Bretts]

Here is the tree last night before work today.

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The tree has started to speed up in growth with the warm weather so I took some time to rewire and repott with just a little trimming.
I started off by carving a little wood away from the top section of a cut that is starting to separate from bending the branch down. This is the before shot. Didn't get a close up after carving but you may see the lower left branch now curves into the downward flow better than before in the full image after carving.

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All wired up. I need to get some thinner wire than 1.5 it was just too big for the fine wiring. My needle nose pliers are at work so this is the best I could do with my clumsy fat fingers. I will tweak the branches a little more once the tree settles agian.

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[Bretts]

Although it was only repotted a month or so ago I felt it would benefit from a new repott which allowed me to change the angle slightly agian.
The root growth was OK considering it was slow to recover from Winter chills.

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I thought the substrate size was a little small so I used my larger mix this time. It is a mix of akadama and zeolite with a little diatomite, and spag moss. I trimmed the roots and scrubbed the root base with a toothbrush and water to remove the black buildup. After reotting I watered in well with a strong mix of seasol.
Will be interesting to see the slight angle change compared to the before shots above.

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Hopefully this recovers quickly and I ca get a couple of trims in before the final image.