Sunseeking Mels.

[boom64]

I suffer from a lack of sunlight in my backyard at this time of year. The front yard of the house of course is bathed in light but a bit unsafe . So with a bit of spare time I have built a trolley out of a old wheelbarrow ,mesh and some square tubing. Wish it had a pump up tyre..as I have been putting it in and out every day. Very heavy with all the gravel trays.
Brought a lot of tube stock last Autumn ,Mels ,Gums and some Kunzeas. The Mels are going out front as I have had a touch of Myrtle Rust over the years. Have really enjoyed them this year. Impressed by the look of the Halmaturorum {Kangaroo Island Paper Bark } lovely bark and very small foliage. A bit slower than the rest.
Cheers John.

[Ryceman3]

So good!
Please post as they develop, love this stuff.

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

I have been putting it in and out every day. Very heavy with all the gravel trays.

Good looking mix there John - I admire your [added] commitment.

[MJL]

Admirable commitment John. I can already see some of your trademark rugged movement. Hey - you and others have me covered for experience but I’m not convinced you need the gravel if you want to lighten the load. Mine are happy straight in 1-1.5” of water;no scoria. I do use scoria for some of my small (mame) plants - otherwise they’d drown . Just an idea to lighten the load.


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[alpineart]

Hi john , a very good start in any collection .

The trolley is a good jigger just needs the wheel to be towards the center more or the deck forward of the wheel so as to balance the weight .

Ideally 2 wheels set 30% back from the front reduces the weight your lifting by around 50% .

Cheers . Alpine

[melbrackstone]

Ahh the bonsai shuffle. I move stuff from front to back too, but mostly just by increments as the sun moves. I don't envy you having to shift it all every day! Got some fantastic material there!

[Rory]

Hi john,

Excellent stuff there mate. I’m loving your enthusiasm for natives.

I have periods when I get strong shade, and also get myrtle rust. So I decided rather than always playing catch-up to the myrtle rust and being a sun chaser, to instead grow material that alleviates this problem. Which doesn’t help you now, but provides good for thought about future material.

I’ve trialled all of those in the last 10 years.
As it stands with my sentiment, I would say the best material are the Melaleuca halmaturorum. These guys are bulletproof, with lovely bark and tiny foliage. They can survive lack of sun better than a lot of other Mels. That one you have in the photo on the bottom left is excellent material. I’ll give you a collection of neglected Kunzea for it.

M. Thymifolia is absolutely gorgeous when in flower. They are the most spectacular of the Mels I think. However I found about a 30% loss if I worked the roots hard. I now take it easy when I repot M. thymifolia.

Melaleuca incana is delightful. I have 2 growing very well and have so far shown high resistance to both myrtle rust and strong shade. Nice soft growth.

M. ericifolia kept getting eaten by possums. The other Mels you have listed I just didn’t warm to and wasn’t impressed by their foliage and overall response.

I have found that Kunzea just require too much sun for me, to keep them in good health.
Kunzea ericoides is now the only Kunzea I’m pursuing.

For really heavy shade, I’d go with M linarifolia purpurea compacta. They had survived almost a year with just very low sun and constantly getting eaten.

I have low levels of sun in about a month from now for about 6 weeks. Fortunately all my natives are getting about 4 hours of strong sun at the moment and they’re all growing like they do in the middle of Spring.
I find the traditional wives tales on season growth are not correct for our natives. If you get at least a half day of full sun and its continually above about 23 degrees you get strong growth, and doesn’t matter what month. But for safety, I do my rootwork in October/November. It’s really simple in my opinion, when it warms up, the growth speeds up, when it cools down, the growth slows down. It doesn’t start to slow down after summer, it just grows dependent on the level of sun and the temperature.

If you can get your hands on Agonis parviceps, I really really highly recommend them. It’s possibly one of the greatest material for Bosnia of all time. It is incredibly hardy. I heavily cut back roots and in 10 days they were growing strong again. It has tiny foliage like a lot of Kunzea. It is highly tolerant of strong shade and has ZERO problems from Myrtle rust. It’s the next big thing in my opinion. Beautiful bark and naturally twists as it grows. The internodes are really short and keeps it bushy with plenty of options for styling. And it appears to shoot all along the trunk if it’s in strong sun. I was skeptical at first, because previous other species of Agonis had basically no resistance to Myrtle rust. But this is amazing, it has the highest resistance to it I’ve ever seen in the Myrtacea family.

Some other fantastic material for low sun and myrtle rust is:

Baeckea clarence River (very hardy, short thin and adorable foliage with little white flowers and shoots everywhere and very nice bark. Very high resistance to myrtle rust and can happily tolerate periods of strong shade.

Baeckea imbricata, another very hardy but slow growing material. Lovely foliage and medium resistance to myrtle rust. Just cut off the appearance of myrtle rust and it doesn’t faze the tree at all.

Leionema and Phebalium. Very high resistance to myrtle rust and tolerates very strong shade. Beautiful wattle-like trees. These should grow fabulously for you.

Melaleuca tamarascina, lovely small foliage like ericifolia (smaller than ericifolia though), and very high resistance to myrtle rust and grows slowly in strong shade but remains in good health.

And for Leptospermum, the highest resistance to myrtle rust and strong shade are:
Leptospermum flavescens cardwell
Leptospermum obovatum
Leptospermum scoparium burgundy queen
Leptospermum brachyandrum
Leptospermum lanigerum x

All other leptos that I have trialled have either got affected badly by myrtle rust or strong shade, or I just didn’t like the foliage / hardiness.

[Raging Bull]

For those of you who can't find details about the agonis parviceps, this may help, it is now called taxandria parviceps:-
"First formally described as Agonis parviceps by the botanist Johannes Conrad Schauer in 1844 as part of Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's work Plantae Preissianae. The plant was subsequently reclassified to T. parviceps in a 2007 revision by Wheeler and Marchant into the new genus Taxandria".
You have an impressive collection of natives there John and are obviously dedicated to provide optimal conditions for them.
Cheers, Frank.

[boom64]

Thanks folks ,Bonsai sure makes you do some crazy things. Mark using scoria mainly as a way of stopping them getting blown over. As well as little sun we get very strong winds here. Got to get the wire on early you know me. Alpine i should have known better but resources were scarce plus all i have is a very old stick welder and have to get on my knees in the shed to do any work .. Not so good .Starting to feel my age..
As always a wealth of information Rory. Thanks for the tips on new plants , will definitely try and get some Agonis parviceps .Appreciate the additional info Raging Bull. Picked up several advanced Baeckea Clarence River ,they are made for bonsai.. Another one I have been playing with is Austromyrtus tenuifolia , Midgenberry. The little fruit look fantastic slow growing but I will persevere . Will have to decline your offer of the Kunzeas if you could see how many I have .way, way ,way to many... Cheers John.

[boom64]

Time for a update on a few of these .Still hanging out on the trolley .Repotted a month or so ago on a warmish couple of days .since then nothing but cold weather and rain. great.... growth has been pretty slow. Cut back the Halmaturorums and the two apex's of the Prickly Paperbark .Have included two pics of the Decussata ,unsure what i will end up doing with this one. Cheers John.

[Keep Calm and Ramify]

Wow.. they certainly have enjoyed the thrill of your trolley rides John. It's messed up all their hair

[Ryceman3]

Thanks for the update. All seems to be going well in your neck of the woods! Lovely development.

Thanks for posting, enjoy watching stuff happen!

[MJL]

Thanks for the update John! The movement you get in you trees is always a highlight - your signature, if you will.

Interesting, sometimes spooky and always quality. I hope you’re well.

Cheers,

Mark


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[Rory]

That is going to be some fascinating material as they age. Keep up the awesome work John.



My halmaturorums are desperate for some sun. This cloudy and rainy summer is not enjoyable.

[boom64]

Hi K.C.R. The trolley was a good idea but it sure carried some weight loaded up. Live of a Bonsai addict.
Hi Ryce nothing better than seeing peoples projects ,only wish i was a bit more tech savvy. Your Trees are really coming on. Well done.
Hi Mark ,more contorted trees .mmmm Trying to create a nice soft style of tree at the moment, finding it very hard to restrain myself. Things are fine up here i hope you and family are all well.
Greetings Rory ,The Halmaturorums sure are a long time project ,the new ones are suffering from no sun as well ,thinner and very long spindly in the branching. Looking back its amazing how much growth i got two years ago in the heatwave conditions. Joys of the Bonsai world .Take care and i hope al is well with you and family.
Cheers John.