AusBonsai

This one is grown from a cutting taken two years ago

So it shows how rushed I was to get this one in the comp when I couldn't name it properly . It's actually a C Viridiflorus .
I repotted into a nursery flat soon after posting and it was placed onto a gravel bed for the summer . The roots were sorted out ( basically untangled and wired into place ) . It didn't send another flush of growth out but the roots did escape into the gravel bed so I think it has recovered well from the hard root work . Hopefully this initial work will pay off later .
The plan is to grow it out and use one of the lower branches as the future tree .

Nice. Will look forward to seeing what you do with it.
Cute little foliage.

Not much to report . It was put away for winter but it’s now back out on a gravel bed . It had a flush of growth a few weeks ago because it was stored in a an open glass house which is a little bit warmer than outside . It still freezes in the glass house over winter but it just takes the edge off it ,best of all it protects from the wind .

Note to Me , next time you enter a competition that has a time limit choose something with really tiny leaves .

This tree is coming along and is about to explode in growth . I have left it to its own devices so it hasn’t changed much . I don’t think I can get it to look ‘natural ‘ in the time frame with the size of its leaves . It has small leaves to begin with for a Callistemon but not small enough for the trunk thickness . I moved some moss from the base to see what was happening and have decided that the base on the other side from what I have been looking at has more potential .

A bit harsh on yourself there Sno, to my eyes it appears to be coming along quite nicely.

Bark is already looking good too

Watto wrote: ↑October 29th, 2020, 4:02 pm A bit harsh on yourself there Sno, to my eyes it appears to coming along quite nicely.

Don’t get me wrong I think this variety has a lot of potential for bonsai . 3 years is asking a bit much though . This one is a cutting off one I originally got off Shibui probably 7 or more years ago and I am just starting to think about a pot for that one .
This tree is going to be a cracker in 5 more years .

Sno wrote: ↑October 29th, 2020, 1:49 pm Note to Me , next time you enter a competition that has a time limit choose something with really tiny leaves .

Yeah I agree with you Sno. Definitely the reason I went with my choice of small leaf natives.

Those that have entered Eucs you'll probably want to grow them big. But for small bonsai, its just too painful with large leaf varieties.

For those that have gone with long needled Casys like cunninghamiana, glauca, etc will need to photo the moment you cut back the needles, otherwise you'll be taking a photo of a brown tipped cactus.

pallidus has a lot of potential as a wild/natural looking bonsai type. The small white flowers (rather than showy red) help with this.
They are certainly more touchy than some other species though. I have lost a few during various training processes. For example, it's much safer to leave some foliage above the cut.

treeman wrote: ↑October 30th, 2020, 12:10 pm pallidus has a lot of potential as a wild/natural looking bonsai type. The small white flowers (rather than showy red) help with this.
They are certainly more touchy than some other species though. I have lost a few during various training processes. For example, it's much safer to leave some foliage above the cut.

I knew it would come back to bite me . Sorry . I mislabeled this at the beginning of the comp ,this tree is C viridiflorus not C pallidus . I agree that C pallidus will make great bonsai as well . C viridiflorus has a smaller leaf ,with a yellow flower and it’s a bit slower growing (for me anyway ) .

Sometime ago I chopped the top ,other than that I haven’t done much which has slowed its development down considerably.

Today I seriously had a look at this tree to see which direction to take it and to be honest whether I would keep going with this project . I have so many things going on at the moment I am a bit overwhelmed . Three years sounds so far away three years ago .
This tree will take longer to develop than 3 years . But when I look at most of my trees that I started from the same stage they don’t start to become interesting until at least the 5 year mark . Sub Alpine climate has limitations . Any way this tree will be amazing ! In ten years

There is nothing natural about the bend in the new trunk line ,but it was fun do to do at the time .