Leptospermum Arachnoides 1

[Rory]

I knew nothing about this species, but I knew what I liked, and when I saw this, I had to purchase 2 of them. Beautiful curves, and will see how it develops over time. It was purchased from a council nursery for $3.00
When I am sure it has settled in to its new home I will then be confident enough to cut back to the start of that straight part at about the middle of the picture. It has beautiful little white flowers at the moment that have opened up and pink bases to them. Gosh I love Aussie natives.

Picture was taken 21 Oct 2013

[Rory]

Image taken 03Apr2014

And thus, the long, slow, painful, yet exciting task starts of building the foundations.
This is a wonderful species to bonsai. Responds very well to heavy pruning, is hardy, shoots back low and tolerates severe anger.
Looking forward to seeing how these develop in time. Love that flaky bark. Initially you have to spend time being discerning and selective of stock, as they are almost impossible to bend once set, and they have a tendancy to get some bizarre looking scragly branches if you don't prune occasionally.

It is called Arachnoides (spider-like), because of its habit of naturally looking like an upturned spider with multiple trunks. Though, I find styling it in this manner might look too shrub-like, and thus I will develop a 1 legged spider tree