Callistemon Glauca (Albany Bottle Brush)

[Patmet]

Just wanted to put this species out there as a local favourite of mine that i believe has good potential for bonsai.

I have two of these in the development stage so far. One i have been growing from tube stock for a couple of years, and the other i purchased last year which was an on sale nursery reject as it was growing twisted and sideways.

The first one i have been growing from tubestock i initially aimed to style in a typical "tree" form, not having paid any attention to how these actually grow/what they look like in nature. Last year i actually started to pay attention to how many of them are growing around where i live and it really made me change tact.

These bottlebrushes generally grow naturally as a big tall shrub, with a fat swollen base. The base usually has many stems/trunks forming a clump style. I found the base on my tree to start getting fat quite early on, and every time i would do a prune, shoots would explode out of it. (It backbuds quite well on the old wood as well as from the base after a prune). I spent those first years cutting off all those base shoots every time. Now that I have discovered that this is how they have evolved to grow i realised why fight it? Let that be the guide for the design and make the natural clump style a feature. I really think these could make awesome clump style bonsai.

The leaves are naturally quite big and they have been reducing well so far but i am still unsure of how far. But that will just determine how big the tree needs to be. Mt second specimen i am just in the process of doing cut backs to encpurage back budding as it was long, Slender, and sparse. I'll post a picture of these in nature up the road from my house as well.

Cheers!

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[Patmet]

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[Phil Rabl]

Nice story developing here. A while ago, I did a summary of AusBonsai posts on Callistemon (viewtopic.php?f=55&t=29478). It would be nice if you could add something from your knowledge of the Albany Bottle Brush to that thread.

[Patmet]

Nice story developing here. A while ago, I did a summary of AusBonsai posts on Callistemon (viewtopic.php?f=55&t=29478). It would be nice if you could add something from your knowledge of the Albany Bottle Brush to that thread.

No worries Phil will be happy to.

[Patmet]

The last update on this was at the beginning of the year. Now that we are at the end of the year, I have pruned and done some wiring here and there a couple of times on my further developed tree.

The other one has just been growing, and is very strong, healthy and lush now. It's ready to start being worked. Updates on this one soon.

The more developed specimen is now in a bonsai pot. Not the ideal pot but just something plain I had lying around that was close to the right size. Potted up pretty high too but i'll get that down next time. The leaves are still reducing which is nice to see, and It's starting to get some branching.

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[melbrackstone]

Thanks for your work on this tree Patmet. I have a Callistemon with very similar leaves that I bought from Jarryd Bailey before he moved to Tasmania. Getting the leaf size down has not been going well though! Are you defoliating during the summer, or just pruning?

[Patmet]

Thanks for your work on this tree Patmet. I have a Callistemon with very similar leaves that I bought from Jarryd Bailey before he moved to Tasmania. Getting the leaf size down has not been going well though! Are you defoliating during the summer, or just pruning?

Just pruning so far. I haven't tried to defoliate. This time however, I have cut some of the larger leaves to reduce the size of them to balance energy. It's a technique I've seen used on broadleaf evergreens so I will update how that goes in the coming months.

[melbrackstone]

Thanks Patmet, yes, that's something I've tried this year too. Fingers crossed it'll help with ramification, if nothing else. This one just wants to drive out long branches with a few branchlets developing right on the ends.

[jicont]

I like this plant. I will try to grow him, so thanks to Patmet for sharing useful information about him.

[Patmet]

Since being worked and potted down into that bonsai pot that whole main trunk has slowly died off except the lower right branch.

In hindsight I think I worked it a bit too hard and cut off a lot of roots at the same time which perhaps caused it to drop most of those branches due to stress.

It has since shot new shoots from the base, which I am now designing into a clump/multi trunk form, which is a natural representation of this species in the wild. I'm going to keep the main dead trunk and have the new trunks from the base interact through and around the central dead wood. One option fails, another is waiting around the corner. It's settled in to the smaller pot now and starting to grow a lot. Happy days.

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[Ryceman3]

One door closes, and another opens! Sometimes you have to pivot from your original plans and just go with what the tree gives you. Look forward to seeing how it progresses.
In other news, I would be a bit careful of that star weed around the tree. Not sure about out your way, but here it quickly takes over and spreads easily between pots to become a bit of a hassle… just a heads up.

[Patmet]

One door closes, and another opens! Sometimes you have to pivot from your original plans and just go with what the tree gives you. Look forward to seeing how it progresses.
In other news, I would be a bit careful of that star weed around the tree. Not sure about out your way, but here it quickly takes over and spreads easily between pots to become a bit of a hassle… just a heads up.

Mate that stuff is the bane of my existence. It has been an issue in my garden for years now as I wasn't onto it early. On a brighter note I have started to attempt to get it under control this year with roundup and a small paint brush. This and oxalis have proven to be formidable opponents.