[Natural] Melaleuca ericafolia - Swamp Paperbarks - MJL(2)

[MJL]

Cheers for the response Gerard. Appreciated.


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[GavinG]

Call me Gerard one more time, and he'll probably sue you! Can't blame him...

GAVIN

[MJL]

Sorry Gavin. And sorry Gerard!


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[MJL]

An update on the Swampy's and their haircut a month or so back!! Similar to the river gums... can't keep up and check out the back budding which is great and I think important for the way this group ends up. Very cool trees to work with.

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[boom64]

WOW ,with the amount of work ahead of you Mark .No wonder clip and grow is the way to go .Enjoying the posts. Cheers John.

[Rory]

Very cool. This will be fun to see the final product.
I like the raw looking style you’ve got going there.

[MJL]

Cheers Rory and John.

Whether it be the gums I am growing, these swampy's or the Kunzea and Moonah that are now out of the competition - I am really enjoying learning about how these natives thrive. Great fun and I am grateful for this competition as it is driving my understanding forward.

The sheer speed of growth requires a different care cadence. I am looking at these groups all the time, not with an intent to 'control' per se - I am not sure of the right word - part of me wants to say 'tame' them but I think its more about helping to guide where they want to go but in the confines of a pot. Sh!t explanation but it's all I've got at the moment.

[treeman]

Have you seen these M ericifolia trees MJL? Something for the future??

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[MJL]

Cheers Treeman - I appreciate you posting these pictures. They are a good reference. I will use them.

One of the things I am trying to reconcile is where trees break out from the understory ... there's not a uniform canopy. I am not sure how I can reconcile this in a pot. Most of my existing group plantings... elms, maples follow reasonably traditional bonsai forest lines - reasonably straight trunks stretching up to find light, some uniformity in the canopy; maybe a 2-3 sub-groupings of different heights but still a reasonably triangular approach.

My native landscapes are far more complex in the movement of their understory and right or wrong, I don't see them with regular forest canopies either. It's troublesome (and interesting) for me.

In bonsai, when I do see a group setting with an irregular canopy, it's usually a jin that pokes above the canopy ... or perhaps Chinese bonsai/penjing are more likely to create unexpected yet pleasing canopy lines ...

Anyway .... once again I bloody ramble! And I don't think I am making full sense after a long day ...

Point being - my frame of reference (in my skull) is where native trees break the canopy - not jins - rather healthy tree tops and perhaps the odd dead branch. Whether I can bring this together in some of my native groups remains to be seen... a spectacular public fail or perhaps something pleasingly different yet evocative ...most likely the end result will be something in between, I just hope it's not boring.

[GavinG]

Maybe consider growing each tree as if its on its own, so each gets its own height and complexity - within reason of course. I agree that a bland foliage-umbrella won't suit the thicket of trunks that you have made. Take time, let it grow itself and evolve, and trim each tree for itself, and see how it shapes up.

Just a suggestion.

Gavin

[MJL]

I decided not to trim this just yet.... not sure why ... just my gut ...it is moving well but I think I want another month so it is really thriving when I cut it back. Some nice back budding here too. My intent of most of my entries in this completions - is to cut back in spring and repot in Summer .... hopefully that approach works and happy to take advice to the contrary. Note the growth from the base of trunks here ... similar to the Kunzea and indeed, the river gums. I quite like it - I usually end of cutting it back but I think it adds to the girth of the base of the trees, I think...

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[MJL]

These look great underneath.... if you can get to it!

As with my other entries in this comp - feeding and conditioning - Seasol and Powerfeed; I did give these a light trim in September. Very light. I plan to repot these in Summer too. I am fortunate to have two Murrumbung trays and I have emptied yet another - and it should match beautifully with these wild looking trees. Nice to be able to match a local pot with a native Australian tree. These next update (around Christmas I think) will have these tree re-potted - nervous and excited about that step.

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[MJL]

Actually.... changed my mind ... decided I need to let light in... took to this and will repot in about 4-6 weeks I reckon. As is my way with natives - more break than cuts but a combination used.






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[Ryceman3]

As is my way with natives - more break than cuts but a combination used.

My way with natives primarily involves cuts, unless of course I get breaks during a bend... then it was deliberate...
Looking good.

[MJL]

As is my way with natives - more break than cuts but a combination used.

My way with natives primarily involves cuts, unless of course I get breaks during a bend... then it was deliberate...
Looking good.

Cheers for the feedback. I am definitely tending more to breaks on my natives now (unless of course I want a flush cut or the branches a really just young shoots when I find it easier just to cut) - I really like the way they tear away and the manner in which then die back/heal. Having said that - most of my natives are in forests or groups and not specimens - in and of themselves (where I may want to take more care). ....further... when I find myself in and under such trees (say looking for golf balls under Moonah's at the golf course )there are dead bits and pieces hanging off the trees everywhere. Also - and I could been imagining this - and in future I may try and take some pics... but when I cut - new branches seem to grow at aggressive - almost right angles - when I break/tear - the I seek to get softer curves at the junctures - which I like.

By the way - in no way am I saying 'breaking' is the way to go - purely personal preference and I think it is an interesting discussion in the context of some natives. (Ha - just remembering - at some stage in the past I tried breaking Japanese maples - well that looked crud; I think the technical term is sh!t - horse for courses as they say. )