3 Year Time Capsule Competition - Entries

Elmer · Post by **Elmer** » December 18th, 2019, 8:06 am

Hi R3, I have been enjoying the natural comp so what the hell here's an entry for you, a Melaleuca thymifolia from tubestock just because I am loving the natural multitrunk clump thing it's got going on.

r3mt.jpg

I am happy to join MJL in throwing in a prize of an Aussie made pot, they have become an addiction with quite a few of our potters work on my bench and in the cupboard.

MPP · Post by **MPP** » December 18th, 2019, 1:19 pm

I'd love to become involved. This is my first post and my first year in bonsai. I have a Banksia Integrifolia that has just had its first cut (the proverbial stick in a pot) with new buds just commencing. Absolutely no plans/ideas for the future of this plant so it will be interesting to see the progress in three years. I will upload an image of my "stick" later today.

greg27 · Post by **greg27** » December 19th, 2019, 12:49 pm

Sweet. I'll play it relatively safe and throw in my collected jacaranda (from https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/forum/view ... 29&t=27785), mostly because it seems like it'll be a quick grower and will take whatever amateurish things I throw at it! I grew up with two very large jacarandas in my back yard and have always been a fan of these trees.

In terms of future direction, I'm not 100% certain - if I can get anything half as good as Ken's (https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/forum/view ... 129&t=5621) I'll be pretty stoked, but maybe something a little taller - I'm not sure. For now I'll slip it into a wider pot, thin out the new growth a little bit and see what it does. I'm thinking the second photo below will be the front as that lets you see more of the twist in the trunk.

TimS · Post by **TimS** » December 19th, 2019, 5:54 pm

Well i'll kick my entry in, not much thought required for this; i have been doing a clear-out, and i actually don't have a lot of pre-bonsai these days that haven't been shown already on the forum.

This is an English Elm/ Ulmus procera clump kindly passed on to me by Mark (MJL) a month or two back along with another that in the end i couldn't coax through the digging process. The base has some really interesting gaps and spaces in it, and i have chosen to use it because it will bud from old wood easily and grows like a weed. I'm starting a little behind the 8 ball with needing to not only develop it, but firstly grow some roots as it was just a sucker and had very little in the way of rootage, but the healthy shoots are a good sign that it's powering along now.

Starting point photos

121219a.jpg

121219b.jpg

121219c.jpg

121219d.jpg

Starfox · Post by **Starfox** » December 20th, 2019, 8:27 pm

OK then, not much to really see but here is my entry, Callistemon 'Wilderness White'. It came as nursery stock from France and all I have done is pot it up in some universal potting mix.
I chose it as it's a viminalis which I already have a few doing well enough so am familiar with them, it should grow well and respond enough to develop something in the time frame given. It's winter here now so I wont be doing anything to it for a while but I'll try and go for a smaller size bonsai with it somewhere between 30-50cms tall depending on proportion. Might as well go with the flow, keep it simple and aim for an informal upright.

Not sure what else, sorry for the gloomy pic the weather is not playing ball today..

IMG_7282as.jpg

Miikeboyle · Post by **Miikeboyle** » December 21st, 2019, 10:35 am

My entry is a Japanese Black Pine. Purchased this morning from a Bonsai nursery. The plan is the give it some movement, let it grow and thicken and hopefully create a nice small bonsai in the future.

CF7CA35D-179E-45E6-A7DC-3A72BD3061B6.jpeg

A3E922A5-A4F9-4DF7-960C-CFAEF34DB2E6.jpeg

B1702998-4247-4FBA-BB3A-58B5318D3C96.jpeg

Pierre · Post by **Pierre** » December 21st, 2019, 3:00 pm

Hello everyone,

My entry is a Tuckeroo ( Cupaniopsis Anarcadioides), Australian native. Bought about 4 years ago. Potted in a large terracotta pot, and allowed to root into the ground.
A few prunings to build trunk movement and thickness.
I chose this tree as I never saw one in bonsai cultivation, but have some amazing old specimens (with fantastic nebari) close to home for inspiration.
Hoping it will be tolerant to the coming root work and repotting. I am happy with the thickness achieved, and looking forward to developing a branch structure and design as natural as possible.
Challenging will be the large compound leaves, but a great potential I hope from our land.
Cheers,
Pierre-Antoine

Keels · Post by **Keels** » December 21st, 2019, 9:05 pm

OK here we go. .... My entry is a Japanese Red Pine. I picked this beauty up at this year's Canberra Bonsai Show. The previous owner just didn't know what to do with it. I've seen his pines so this might be challenging especially since I've only started dabbing in pines. But I had a good understanding, now I need to put it to good use.

What I envision for this tree in three years time

I would say I see the structure layed out and branch development started. Decisions made about each of the future branches where they should be layed out as well. I see it sitting in a nice Japanese rectangle pot.

Anyway I think that's it, see how I go I guess

gnichols · Post by **gnichols** » December 22nd, 2019, 4:19 pm

Why not I say...
This JM atropurpeleum has been let got for a few years and cut back hard and I'd like to develop it over the next few years. Maybe I don't see many of these as bonsai because the internodes can stretch out a bit, but worth a try I guess.

The milky colour on the leaves - I've just sprayed with natrasoap. My maples have been savaged the past two growing seasons. The natrasoap has helped a little but any suggestions would be welcome.

Clonex in the pic for perspective.

20191222_164137.jpg

20191222_164039.jpg

Sent from my SM-G570F using Tapatalk

Sno · Post by **Sno** » December 23rd, 2019, 10:07 pm

Here’s mine .

F401C0A9-1C32-4F0E-A500-602CAB01E5A6.jpeg

A80D2B0A-AFF3-4436-996D-ABCD9BAB1815.jpeg

I bought this recently from my local nursery .it was in flower at the time ( sorry no photo ) and it has this beautiful kind of antique looking flower . I didn’t buy it the first time I saw it , instead I just admired the flowers .
Then .
I found this pot .

381504B8-571C-4A9A-9FB2-0127245F7E5E.jpeg

Well as you will see in 3 years when the 2 are finally together it was meant to be .

Beano · Post by **Beano** » December 25th, 2019, 11:52 am

Merry Christmas. Not sure what I should enter. Small or very large untrained plant...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MJL · Post by **MJL** » December 27th, 2019, 6:15 am

Hey Ryceman3 - thanks again for the competition. I’m in with a Japanese Flowering Quince.

This little clump is compliments of Keels - out of his old garden in Canberra. (Thanks Keels!)

Now .... I think flowering quince can be difficult to ramify and all the more so given that this clump is not the dwarf variety, chojubai.

So what do I hope to achieve in three years? 1. Keep it alive.

2. Clean out the existing base to let light in and select the branches that will form the basis of the clump. 3. Potentially wire the existing branches to better ‘fan-out’ the clump from its centre. 4. Develop a healthy clump that will push a few more new branches from the base too.

So ... hopefully, in 3 years, I will have the basis of a cool looking clump and set a foundation for its future as a clip and grow flowering bonsai.

Here’s some photos of the garden in Canberra, the flower and the pre-bonsai sitting on my BBQ workbench.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

tgooboon · Post by **tgooboon** » December 27th, 2019, 9:30 am

Wisteria 2019-04-19 1yr Seeding.jpg

Wisteria pre-bonsai seedling in April 2019 (approx 1 year old), grown from seed in 2018 from local tree (Mackay, North Queensland).

My aim is to grow the tree vigorously, with strong base, plenty of movement, and eventually flower blooms. I will let the trunk tip grow as a sacrafice leader, to maximise trunk thickening. The aim will be to keep the overall height in the 450-600mm range. I am considering putting it into an air root pruning bag/pot for 2 years to develop the nebari. Wiring will be reserved for the trunk only to keep it growing upright. The branching will be a weeping style, which may lead to more height to accomodate branching. I intend to keep as mush as possible lower branching.

Wisteria 2019-12-17 Front.jpg

Wisteria 2019-12-17 Top.jpg

At the end of spring it bent over so far it was completly hanging below the pot, so i put some wire on it. Photos of Front and top at the end of spring, before being cut back

Wisteria 2019-12-27 Front.jpg

Current Front - I have just cut all of the leaves back to a single pair in an attempt to get more back budding from the trunk, which appears to be working.

Wisteria 2019-12-27 Trunk.jpg

Trunk Base has very chunky bark and 2cm already, i will need to be careful not to damage any bark when repotting

Wisteria Seed Tree.jpg

The parent tree - drops its leaves and gets covered in purple flowers in Spring. It has a very coarse string bark, and has a strong desire for long weeping branches which eventually break off.

Ryceman3 · Post by **Ryceman3** » December 28th, 2019, 8:11 am

After reminding everybody to get an entry in - I thought it best I follow my own advice and do the same.
This is not the tree I had originally planned to put in this competition, but with the creation of MJL's forest comp I began reconsidering my options...

Anyway ... here it is, a Melaleuca Ericifolia (I am pretty confident of the ID) that I have had for just under a year. When I bought it it was probably half the size and didn't have the movement in the trunk. I bent that in over the winter and since spring has arrived it has really started to grow on and gain a bit of girth. Summer is a great time for progressing Mels so long as you keep the water up to them. It gets a fair bit of fertiliser as well to help the cause.

My plans are to continue to develop the trunk movement, I like the double trunk dynamic and I think these two compliment each other so I will try and keep bending to emphasise that.

I really want it to be approx. twice as thick as it currently is at the base (just under 20mm now, so I hope to get close to 40mm by the time I show it again) ... so there will be a lot of growing out initially to gain girth. Current height is approx. 500mm

Then, once I get close to my goal trunk width I will look to develop the canopy in a way that accentuates the trunk line. I think it's too early for me to even decide on a front yet (the two shots below are my current preferences)... or a style I will lean towards (natural or more "cloud-like" manicured pads - not sure).

In short, I really like the trunk movement and relationship between them so I am looking to develop a twin trunk tree that highlights this feature.
Here are the pics!

3YRMEL-01_1219.jpg

3YRMEL-02_1219.jpg

3YRMEL-Trunk_1219.jpg

Good luck to everybody who enters, I hope by the end we all have something to be proud of...

wiggs · Post by **wiggs** » December 28th, 2019, 8:39 am

I bought this JBP about 3 weeks ago, only thing I have done is lift the tree out put a quarter of fresh soil and plenty of fertiliser, and that’s it.

I want to reduce the size of the branching and foliage by at least 1/4 to 1/3.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

AusBonsai