yamadori (or farmadori?) Antidesma parvifolia

[Ash]

This is a collected Antidesma parvifolia, also known as native currant bush which I am going to try as bonsai. It has been growing untouched for one year since it was pruned, collected and planted in pure diatomite in this pot. Prior to this it had been trained primarily by the grazed and trodden on technique with a bit of wind tousling and the occasional drought thrown in for good measure. It is planted to one side of the pot because it had lopsided roots.

Antidesma parviflora.jpg

I don't know how Antidesma parvifolia will go as bonsai, but so far I know that it can handle root lopping, shoots off old wood, and grows nice little leaves with an emarginate apex,

Antidesma parvifolia.jpg

It also has some thick and chunky dead wood and uro which I like and a big jin on the RHS that I have mixed feelings for.

Antidesma uro.jpg

I am throwing this one open for ideas for styling. So far it has been dubbed 'the anvil' by my wife.

cheers
Ash

[jarryd]

wow ash this is such a great starter. isn't it nice when you find something so perfect the start of with.
this tree will only need very minimal work to become very nice. super jealous. wish i could get my hands on it.

I'm sure you will do it justice. keep this one updated if you could!

[GavinG]

Great find! I've no idea about the species, but for design:

The left branch and the top are well shaped as is, the right opposes the left and is clunky - would you consider chopping, reducing or jinning? If the roots are so one sided, would you turn it 90deg. to the left, over the edge? If you lost the right side, it could make a wonderful cascade in the penjing style.

Thanks for posting,

Gavin

[Ash]

Hi Gavin and Jarryd,

I am most likely going to reduce the large and clunk right hand branch and jin following Gavin's idea. That branch has some good features but is just too big, so I will try to reduce it first and then if that does not work will remove more of it and if that does not work will remove it completely. I have considered turning it into a cascade by tilting to the LHS - and it could be done without too much difficulty from a horticultural viewpoint but may end up with a gentle reverse taper in the lower section. I will have to see how the roots have fared underneath and tip it to see next repotting.

cheers
Ash

[Ash]

Here is a quick update on my Antidesma parvifolia. It has been a very easy tree to grow and wire, trim etc. and responds well to regular fertilizer. My wife first called it 'Anvil' as is looked heavy and had equal opposing main branches. I meant to cut one of them off but I am a bit of an Ent (think treebeard) and I take a long long long time to make up my mind what to do if I ever make up my mind at all. So I kinda went with the flow and kept both branches and trained the new growth into a windswept style following the large and lively jin. I removed some of the surface roots that crossed more interesting underlayer of larger surface roots. It didn't look much until I repotted it into this new pot yesterday when it suddenly jumped out at me as a tree with a credible life storey so I decided I quite liked the tree and changed its name from Anvil to Althea. Tropical Cyclone Althea was a severe cyclone that hit my childhood home town exactly a decade before I was born. The impact and loss of houses and loss of life is so burnt into the cultural memory of Townsvillean's that I thought it fitting memory to name a tree after this event.

Antidesma parvifolia windswept.jpg

Antidesma parviflora winswept 2.jpg

Obviously it needs a few years branch work and a couple of refinement styles. The largest RHS jin will get a bit of work near the apex to turn its three 'lumps' into a bit of a trident.Would be interested to hear your thoughts

Ash