Tristania laurina ǀ Water Gum

[Steven]

G'day,

I'll be wiring this little water gum again soon and thought I'd put up its progress from tube stock to where it is today. Still has a long way to go...

2008 October.jpg

2009 February.jpg

2009 April.jpg

2011 April.jpg

2011 August b.jpg

2011 November.jpg

2013 April.jpg

I'll wire every branch soon and put some more movement into them along with spreading the apex a bit wider. I'll leave the wire on until next Spring and hopefully everything should have set by then.
I've found Tristania laurina to be very responsive to bonsai techniques and are pretty hardy too. The leaves reduce to be between 10mm and 20mm long from regular trimming.

It is currently 220mm tall and is potted in a little Mudlark pot by Penny Davis.

Any advice for future directions would be welcomed.

Regards,
Steven

[GavinG]

Great progression, easy to see how it's all been done. Do you mind if I ask how long it has taken? The lifting line in the pot glaze works very well - I don't why it does, it just does.

As for advice, I'd love it as it is for about a week, then put it back in a big pot, and grow some more sacrifice branches... But I like elephant-leg trunks, so feel free to ignore me. Yes, I thought you might.

A graceful tree indeed.

Gavin

[Steven]

G'day Gavin,

I thought I'd get a comment or 2 about the skinny trunk.
The dates of the pictures are in their file name. Tube stock was October 2008. I'll go back and edit now to include the dates.

Regards,
Steven

[Rory]

Nice work. I love this species too, it has such beautiful colours to it. I have one myself, can't say I know much about them as it's younger than yours, but it's nice to see what you've done.

[Bretts]

Trunks fine, nice work. Yep needs more wireing, looking forward to seeing the update.
Amazing species I finally got one off Ray last year.

[MattA]

The trunk & canopy work for me, great progression, just goes to show you don't have to wait years for a really nice little tree. If I would make one suggestion is to change the pot, the colour is just a little on the light side for my taste, something along the lines of this maybe

Mudlarkolive.jpg

[Boics]

Great thread and progression Steven.

Thanks for sharing it's threads like these that inspire, teach and add value to native Bonsai culture in Aus and ultimately ausbonsai.

Regards,

Boics.

[dansai]

I like the slender graceful trunk also. I feel that big and chunky can give a sense of power and stability, where as the graceful trunk line gives a softer and more fluid feel. Both have there place.

Well done Steven and keen to see this progress. I have a few myself in early training and growing on stages and will go for both chunky and slender now that I see how graceful they can look when slim.

[Steven]

Thanks for the feedback.

Matt, when will you be posting the pot to me? I'd like to pot it into it real soon

Forgot to say earlier, Tristania do flower but I don't think it would be possible to get them on a bonsai as you have to trim too often. They do have awesome coloured foliage which changes from deep burgundy to bright green.

Regards,
Steven

[MattA]

Mudlark for Mudlark... I will bring it down & we can swap the trees over, mine has a Lepto multitrunk in it

[Steven]

What size if your pot Matt?

Regards,
Steven

[MattA]

It is 205 x 165 x 65mm, Penny is having a sale on sunday if your heading up to have a look & dont see something I am 10mins up the road from her

[Steven]

G'day,

Rewired and tweaked this one a bit but I think it may need to be tilted a little to the left. Thoughts?

Regards,
Steven

2013 May (a).jpg

[Bougy Fan]

I agree Steven - I think because of the bare patch in the glaze the eye is drawn to the right. Moving the tree slightly to the left will balance it

[goughi]

For what it's worth from a newby, I wouldn't tilt it too far left as it looks pretty good as it is. I must acquire a couple of these plants, as they make good bonsai and there are some really nice full sized versions visible from my back deck to style a bonsai from.

The photos are great against that background. However, if you post another photo could you please include a Pup-ish AA battery or something else for scale?