AusBonsai

• Species name: Casuarina torulosa
• Current height: 455mm
• Origin: Bonsai South
• Cost: $20
Purchased last year and repotted in November. The roots were heavily reduced and it was potted into my standard mix. I chopped the top off at that time which is the second time it had been chopped. There has been no work on the branches as yet.

Regards,
Steven

I've selected the branches I want to work with and removed the rest. I've tried to over exaggerate the bends and angles in the branches so they will be more noticeable in the future.
The height is still a bit tall but I'm hopeful of getting some back shooting around the top to be able to choose a new apex. I'm also hoping for a branch on the upper right hand side to fill in the gap.

Hi Steven,
Love the bark and the taper on this one.

Regards Ray

Looking good so far. Definitely keep updating. Beautiful species to bonsai, have quite a few myself. Yeah, of all the species to bonsai, you have to be careful with these guys, because their bark is so fragile. It is quite common to see branches broken off and so on in the wild. I just dug up a thick trunk of this species yesterday from the bush, so hoping it takes. They remind me of banksia serrata, but much more graceful. Do you find that the branches tend to straighten over time more with this species, as you say you have exaggerated the bends?

Ay ay ay! Steven! There gos the winner again!

Just found this one on the ground behind my bench. Must have been knocked off by a bird or cat (or cat chasing a bird). It was okay last Friday as I trimmed a couple of branches then. It has missed being watered for a few days and. . .

Hope so

I think it will

Steven, good luck, and keep us informed how it is doing.

Oh dear. Your little man looks quite ill. That is a shame.

Our house backs onto the bush, and Torulosa is King in our area. The reason it reigns supreme, is its amazing ability to survive the heat. Unfortunately it is often because their roots spread so far into the void that they often find pockets of moisture. Having said that, it is a very hardy Aussie native, so hopefully you've caught it in time. It is not uncommon to find these guys perched into rock crevices where nothing else will live in our area, and they don't need a whole lot of sun to survive, so it is amazing the extremeties they can tolerate.

I've kept this one on my bench and it still gets daily water...
After months of looking DEAD; there is finally movement at the station...

I am not sure if my Casuarina is like yours but it has grown like crazy. My sacrifice branch is thicker than my trunk, and the branches very thick too.
Looking good!

It has lived to see another day
Not sure if it will be looking refined by the end of this comp...

Looking good. What are your thoughts on the pocket branch?

G'day,

This one has returned from the dead nicely. I trimmed it pretty hard and rewired most of the branches. It's exactly 250mm tall at the moment so I might be struggling to meet the requirements once I grow an apex. Unless I layer it above the current soil level