Melaleuca Bracteata

[Craig]

Thanks Matt, some thinking to do for me, I too like Antonio's drawing, it's definately an option ,however i feel it may not be quite right for this Species( no disrespect to Ant). Maybe more suited to a pine or juniper with the rugged trunk and sparse foliage, ???

Thanks guys , keep the ideas coming

[Craig]

some pics from the other side.

Ag gem other3 side.jpg

Ag gem other2 side.jpg

Ag gem other1 side.jpg

Ag gem semicascade1 side.jpg

Ag gem semicascade2 side.jpg

Ag gem semicascade3 side.jpg

new virt#Semi-cascade.jpg

[GavinG]

Great stump, and so many possibilities!

For me the back trunk can go, the front trunk is very straight, and the curly central trunk is the most interesting. The cascade style would be very dramatic, but if you keep the front trunk it doesn't harmonise at all with the curly one, and if you get rid of it, the trunk doesn't taper so much as crash to a halt. It might be possible to shorten and carve the front trunk into a jin, as with your virt, but it would need to be short and heavily carved. Another possibility would be to cut the front trunk off, and carve a hollow shari from there back down the trunk.

Excellent problem to have, all round.

Gavin

[Craig]

Thanks Gavin, i appreciate your taking time to comment , I agree if the lower branch goes so does the taper,definately needs some carving, cheers mate

virt###g gem.jpg

[GavinG]

Yup, virt looks just as I would hope. Now for reality!

Gavin

[Roger]

Gavin
I do enjoy an appreciate your eye for detail.

Great stump, and so many possibilities!

For me the back trunk can go, the front trunk is very straight, and the curly central trunk is the most interesting. The cascade style would be very dramatic, but if you keep the front trunk it doesn't harmonise at all with the curly one, and if you get rid of it, ...

I agree with you analysis, but come to a different end point. In Chinese classical art, one of the prime elements is 'balance', as in ying and yang [for exammple, as you know: strong and weak, fire and water, male and female, hot and cold, straight and curved]. It thus allows, and even invites the artist to meld two very different elements into a single whole. They can form a 'whole' despite being of differnt harmonies. That is their vitality, both in the visual tension created and in the way the artist 'balances the whole'.

Of course there is an equally valid aesthetic that looks to have all the parts telling the same story, rather than challenging each other.

A great problem to resolve with this splendid material.

Roger

[Chris Di Nola]

Great Material I would kill to get my hands on that but I will settle for giving you my opinion in a vert
I know it a native and Ive gone a bit traditional, just a thought

[Craig]

Skippy, cheers mate , thats a very interesting approach, i'll check that out in the daylight tomorrow. The way you show it , the top of the doubled over bend would be about 450mm high and the top of the tree somthing like 700mm give or take an adjustment or 2 to the crown. Cheers Skippy, much appreciated

[Tony Bebb]

I still like your trunk Craig, so I had a play to put in my
Thinned the jins down a bit to

Craig Mel vert.jpg

[Craig]

, you guys are too good, Thanks for so much feedback on my tree, it means alot,,Thanks again

[Craig]

All ,

Today was the day for starting the next round of work on this Golden gem. It was collected in february this year and has been growing quite well, it flowered a couple of weeks ago and was begging for some better soil,,

for a few days now i have toiled with the 2 directions i could of taken this tree, upright as Antonio and Skippy suggested or semi cascade like others thought.

I decided to go this route;

100_3679.JPG

I carefully raked the soil around the edges of the container and removed it from it's temporary home;

100_3680.JPG

Some new mix in the bottom of a new pot;

100_3683.JPG

Placing the tree in the pot and finding it's new spot;

100_3685.JPG

new soil;

100_3687.JPG

A good watering in;

100_3689.JPG

Now it awaits some foliage work in the shade

100_3690.JPG

more to follow when trimmed
thanks for following

[harry]

This is as every one has said very nice material Craig. I like the direction that you have chosen. With more time this will be a vey nice tree.
Look foerward to its progress.


Harry

[bodhidharma]

Craig, a wonderful piece of material and i must say i am a little lustful of it. Would going below its apex of normal growth inhibit the trees progress Mels are apically dominant and i hope this does not hold back this specimen tree.

[Bretts]

Missed this one back in June

Love the options available in the material and a cascade would be great. If you can get it going well it should be a stunner

[Craig]

Thanks guys , Bodhi ,i wasn't happy with the angle i first went with so i changed it, more in line with the original virt(page1),staying closer to semi-cascade but i don't think bracteata would suffer the same as some others in that respect , so .
i'll try and get a better pic at some stage as these ones are not as good as i would have liked.

100_3691.JPG

100_3693.JPG