[NATURAL] Melaleuca Thymifolia - Keep Calm and Ramify

[terryb]

Very nice KCAR

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

It's a beaut, KCAR! I notice it has flowered in April previously, will it also flower in October?

Hey Mel - yes.
It starts to develop flowers here in late Sept - early October.
There are actually some flower clusters beginning in last pics just posted, but they are very hard to see nestled within the foliage. It will flower continuously here now throughout the warmer months, but if branching is allowed to extend can eventually look a little tired with many spent flowers quickly turning into hard seed pods. Thanks for all your input along the way

Plenty of golf to be had between now and April KC&R… you can improve your handicap, and keep honing that tree at the same time! Nice looking Mel.

Hey R3 - thanks for your encouragement - sorta feel it wont dramatically change too much over the next 6 months. It's been both fun & challenging trying to create something within a set time frame, that hopefully looks older than what it actually is!
(In the 3 year time span it's trunk has expanded to a whopping size of 1.5cm's - massive eh! )

....I know i'm gonna suffer from "girth envy" when others start to update.

[melbrackstone]

It starts to develop flowers here in late Sept - early October.

That's fabbo, what a lovely long flowering period. I just realised I scored some of these in our latest native plant giveaway at the Redlands Bonsai Club, so will make sure I give it a chance to flower rather than keep pruning.

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

That's fabbo, what a lovely long flowering period. I just realised I scored some of these in our latest native plant giveaway at the Redlands Bonsai Club, so will make sure I give it a chance to flower rather than keep pruning.

Lucky you! It's very generous with flowers forming not only at the tips of the new growth, but also at the bases of older branches - sometimes appearing on much older woody areas. This lives in a shallow water tray. Always lots of full sun.
I've been taking Rory's advice on removing the hardened seed pods sooner than later, and generally keeping quite trim to keep good compact growth.
You can't go wrong...

[melbrackstone]

Appreciated, thanks!

[Pokitren]

It starts to develop flowers here in late Sept - early October.

That's fabbo, what a lovely long flowering period. I just realised I scored some of these in our latest native plant giveaway at the Redlands Bonsai Club, so will make sure I give it a chance to flower rather than keep pruning.

Let me ask: How long have you been pruning it?
And hello everyone, I like this site. There seems to be a lot of interesting stuff here for me.

[Rory]

Nice job. Id still update it in 6 months with more ramification if you can try it, but just my thoughts. The solid branch jutting back against the direction of such an implied ‘permanent ferocious wind’ is a little odd to me.

Mine are currently flowering too.
I have the dark mauve and light pink flowering varieties
They make beautiful bonsai.
I have one I’m keeping as a mame from Ray Nesci’s bonsai nursery starter stock. It has the teeniest tiny leaves. Very cute.

I tried my hand at a few more of the dwarf varieties and have managed to keep them alive, but I think it’s just being a lot more careful at root reductions and leaving a lot of foliage on the tree that has kept them in great health after root reductions.

[Pokitren]

I tried my hand at a few more of the dwarf varieties and have managed to keep them alive, but I think it’s just being a lot more careful at root reductions and leaving a lot of foliage on the tree that has kept them in great health after root reductions.

Have there been plants that didn't survive with this approach?

[Rory]

Have there been plants that didn't survive with this approach?

I was merely referring to the fact that I tried dwarf thymifolia a long time ago, and all the dwarf varieties didn’t make it. But I believe I may have been too aggressive on how much root and foliage mass I had removed. With my latest attempts I was more cautious and they have all survived.

[MJL]

Lovely KC@R! I really like the rock and the broken branch in the ground - the perception of age that you have imbued is excellent for a tree so young.


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[MJL]

Just wanted to reflect how good KC&R’s tree is … first day I was allowed to travel to golf today and this tree reminded me of this entry!




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[Keep Calm and Ramify]

Wow - Lovely shots there MJ! Thanks heaps for sharing.

[Pokitren]

Have there been plants that didn't survive with this approach?

I was merely referring to the fact that I tried dwarf thymifolia a long time ago, and all the dwarf varieties didn’t make it. But I believe I may have been too aggressive on how much root and foliage mass I had removed. With my latest attempts I was more cautious and they have all survived.

That's great! I've tried the aggressive approach a couple of times too, but purposeful. I removed certain areas to make the plant grow in the right direction - turned out pretty good.

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

The "official" last photo update for me - I made it a personal challenge to have this flowering & looking as best I could for the original end date.

Final details are:
Tree is 6cms high and 26cms in length.
Pot is by Denise Allen.

KCAR has now left the comp room...

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[PWC]

Very natural looking composition You must be happy with the result.