Sunseeking Mels.

[boom64]

Update on one of the original M. Incanas. There was two to start with but they got pretty toasted last summer. One passed to Bonsai heaven and this one lost a lot of inside branches as well as most of the tips. Cleaned up the dead material and decided to work what i had left into a weeping style. My first thoughts were to move this on but the growth and colour are so nice i decided to give it a nice pot and see how things progress.
Cheers John.

[boom64]

Here is the picture i hope.

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

Lovely.

[Rory]

Oh yeah, that’s really nice.
I am also growing these.
The foliage is so nice and soft.

Beautiful tree John.

[dansai]

Beautiful John

Reminds me a lot of the Mels around my place with fairly straight trunks and main branches and then very twisted and lots of hanging smaller branches

[Keels]

Thats such a nice tree. Thanks for sharing

[boom64]

Finally, have started potting up a few of the original sunseekers . First one is a Melaleuca decussata, has been a great tree to work with quick growth and plenty of choices branch wise, also back buds well.
Cheers John

[boom64]

Finally, another one in a pot, another Mel decussata. That leaves just one original M decussata in the cart, thickening up nicely. Cheers John

[alpineart]

Hi John , very nice looking mel's here . I did get into a few of them before retiring however never finished what I started . You could say i left my run too late .
Nothing like a good native to keep you on your toes .

Cheers ian

[boom64]

Hi Ian, good to see you back on deck, the amount of projects you had going i often thought there must have been a dozen Alpinearts toiling away...
The mels are great fun and pretty quick to boot. Aiming for trees about 40 to 50 cm ,thinking of the future.
Cheers John.

[boom64]

Well, it's been a long time coming but have potted up most of the originals. Only one decussata and one halmaturorum left, not so sure about the styphelioides as they ended up scattered around. The ericifolia with the branch across the trunk was modelled on a pine that i often drive past. Photos taken on the phone so a little scratchy. Cheers John

[Rory]

Nice trees John.

Native Bonsai 2.jpg is really nice. Thats the winner for me.

[Ryceman3]

They are all good but if I had to choose I would go along with a similar selection to Rory.
Then again… why choose! Everyone is a winner! Lovely work… they really can grow/advance quite quickly, I really love these kind of threads. Thanks for posting.

[boom64]

Thanks Rory and Ryce, have to agree number two is my pick as well. Originally wanted the lower branch to go completely across the trunk so much that it left a groove in the trunk. Along the way the apex got twisted around. Next time...Growth has been good considering the last couple of years have been very wet. The best growth i have seen with the Mels was the year of the bushfires, extreme heat and very dry winds. Hopefully some warmer summers ahead .
Curios to see what you have done with your halmaturorums Ryce and you to Rory.
Cheers John

[Rory]

Curios to see what you have done with your halmaturorums Ryce and you to Rory.

John, in regards to halmaturorum….
I was told they’re extremely hardy. I have grown them for many years now, and I’ve just buried the last one a few weeks ago, which was the last one you gave me. I can’t explain it. In the first few years, they seemed fairly good in my area. But for me they have proven similar to Melaleuca micromera, in that they initially appeared hardy and tolerated heavy root removals. But over time, they just lose vigor and eventually die over the next few years. No idea why. But I won’t be growing them again…. I’ve gone through probably 10 of each species.

I’m eternally optimistic, but I have my limits:
Never say die, unless it’s a WA bonsai.