Leptospermum

[GavinG]

This might be "Pacific Beauty", a flavescens/polygalifolium selection, chosen for cascading habit and free flowering. As I found it, the foliage has a light and open texture (not quite clear on the photo), and I'm not sure that I want the foliage ever to become dense, although I'll be working to get the trunk thicker.

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There are clumps of "ramified" dead branchlets that seem to be typical of the species in the wild, and I'm beginning to think they should be seen in bonsai too.

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I'm not sure about the flowers - they seem a bit crazy and gaudy to me, but I've been told I'm wrong on this.

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Seed pods can stay on, and be seen along with the new flowers.

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After a basic trim:

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This may be the angle it ends up. Certainly grow on first, and get some trunk bulk first.

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Gavin

[Craig]

Hi Gavin, very nice material mate, I especially like the texture of the bark and size/shape of the foliage. I'm interested to see what you decide about using clumps of "ramified" dead branchlets to enhance a the appearance of an aged tree.loving the flowers also Cheers

[MattA]

Hey Gavin,
Good to see you trying another native, I like the flowers but think mature seed pods give that look of a mature tree

I am intrigued by the "cascading habit" is it an upright form with cascading branches or a variety that will .. cascade.. grow below the horizontal... If so I think you could do something really special with this tree, they tolerate bending well
Matt

[GavinG]

Craig, I'll post it again in about twenty years when I've figured out what I'm doing with it. I'm still learning to see.

Matt, I think it is a prostrate form, maybe not cascading. They tend to have dominance issues anyway, so I won't push my luck with this one. I'm not sure what I want a Lepto to look like, but this one has given me some ideas. I think I want long, slender, rangy and open - we'll see whether it works. I also want seed pods without the gaudy flowers, which might be just a tad tricky.

Gavin

[GavinG]

So, seven months later, it's gone mad. I would normally leave the growth on through winter, to keep fattening the trunk, but there are some straight bits in the trunks that I'd like to see with some back-budding. So I'm experimenting with something that worked well last year with a Beackea - cut back hard in late autumn, and hopefully it will set buds back further ready for the spring bud burst.

Here it is, I've just started work on the right-hand edge.

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Nice curves early, then it goes straight.

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I've cut it back to the last six or so leaves at each growing point, and cut back straight stuff quite hard.

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Now let's see what happens.

Gavin

[Dario]

Hi Gavin, it sure went nuts with growth in the last seven months!
It will be good to see how it responds to the late Autumn cut back too.
Gee the trunk has some really nice movent. When it is lent to the left as in your last pic it seems to get lost a little bit. What is the planting angle going to be?
Cheers, Dario.

[Neli]

I like the movement of the trunk in the picture before last. Though it looks as if it has a bit of reverse tapper but that can be the shadows on the picture.

[GavinG]

Dario, there are two possible trunk lines (pic 2 and pic 3) - the long trunk looks more convincing in 3D than it does in the pic. As for angle, when I figure out which trunk/direction to choose, I'll pick an angle... Things take years to evolve around here.

Neli, there's no reverse taper in 3D. Trick of the twist in the trunk.

Gavin

[Dario]

Thanks Gavin, look forward to seeing it in the future.
Cheers, Dario.

[bodhidharma]

Aaarrgghhh..Gavin, resize your photos so we can zoom in for a close up. You know, this guy looks like a natural semi weeper and would look great styled into a weeping willow type style. Informal upright with a fatter trunk and weeping foliage with flower buds..cool

[woody]

Hi Gavin,
as Dario wrote, great growth in 7 months.
I love the bend on the trunk, and whenever I see your Lepto on a severe angle, I feel it would be a shame to waste that great trunk movement. I've killed every Lepto I've ever attempted. Last count.......8 . So its nice to see yours flourishing.
Goodluck, thanks for posting.
Woody

[Max]

Hi Gavin, is there any chance of an update? thanks mate

[GavinG]

Died from drying out - Leptos in my experience don't tolerate ANY degree of dryness. I'm keeping two in a water bath this summer - they are growing amazingly strongly, and going through the water at an astonishing rate.

Not happy about losing this one though.

Gavin

[KIRKY]

Hi Gavin, if you haven’t thrown it out yet, a Lepto of mine that dried out due to being missed at repotting time. Came back after 18 months. I just left it on the shelf and watered with the other trees, same pot never touched it as I too thought it was dead. You never know with Natives.
Cheers
Kirky