[Natural] Melaleuca Ericifolia - Ryceman3

[Ryceman3]

Thanks all for your feedback and thoughts.
It's always good to hear what others see in your work.

I like the way you've started to get that flow to the right.

Agreed! The flow to the right I think is very important on this tree for it to make sense. I'm hoping that future dead wood and extension will help to push it a bit further in that direction.

That's looking great!

Cheers mate!

Love this Ryan. Reminds me very strongly of the old Mels I see around here. They usually have only slight movement in their trunks and get more and more movement out onto the branches and end up very twisty. Well done

I'm glad the tree evokes that spirit/vibe for you Dan, the description you give is the kind of aesthetic I was inspired by so I'm pleased it resonates with you!

Yes, I love this too. Our influences are so varied - like their natural habit - I can’t help but be influenced by the twisting, turning, gnarly trunks on the Mornington peninsula … they almost worm across the ground and through the dunes … influenced by the sea winds and perhaps reflecting their roots underneath the sand, search for water … and yet others grow almost bolt upright or at an angle - somehow in a rush to find the sun.

Hi MJL, long time no see!
I couldn't agree more, plenty of variation in the way our natives grow in their natural habitats ... which makes sense given that Australia has such a variation of climates and landscapes. Great trees in the wild and as bonsai indeed.

[GavinG]

Nice refined work all over. Interesting complex structure, and refined fine trimming. Although it may reflect trees in the wild, it is also a strong composition in its own right - well done. Do you know how long they live in the wild?

Gavin

[greg27]

Nice tree, nice pot, nice moss, nice photo. Nice!

And best of all, nice progression thread. You've done a great job at showing all the steps between a stick in a pot to a nice bonsai.

[longd_au]

It's amazing how much change this tree has undergone since the beginning and in such a short time. Nice work.

[Ryceman3]

Nice refined work all over. Interesting complex structure, and refined fine trimming. Although it may reflect trees in the wild, it is also a strong composition in its own right - well done. Do you know how long they live in the wild?

Gavin

No idea Gavin, hopefully it lasts for long enough that all this effort was worthwhile!!
Thanks for your kind words.

Nice tree, nice pot, nice moss, nice photo. Nice!

And best of all, nice progression thread. You've done a great job at showing all the steps between a stick in a pot to a nice bonsai.

Thanks Greg, nothing in bonsai is ever really finished until it dies so I hope the progression continues for a bit longer.

It's amazing how much change this tree has undergone since the beginning and in such a short time. Nice work.

Cheers Dennis. I'm glad that a lot of people seem to like this tree, it's quickly become one of my favs.

[terryb]

Awesome R3, you certainly have a knack for styling and this tree is looking fantastic.

[Beano]

This is my favourite so far!


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[LeeBee73]

I just wanted to say as a complete novice to bonsai I find your work in just 3 years to get a result like this breathtaking. I have been an avid gardener for many years, and really love natives but as I get older I am thinking I need to scale back a tad, which got me thinking about bonsai.
I hadn't really thought about natives and bonsai, but a friend showed me some images and after a play on the internet, somehow I got here. I'm glad I did. There is a lot to take in from some of the amazing things people are doing, but this especially is quite special and inspirational. Wow.
I know what I'll be looking through for a while now!

[Ryceman3]

I just wanted to say as a complete novice to bonsai I find your work in just 3 years to get a result like this breathtaking. I have been an avid gardener for many years, and really love natives but as I get older I am thinking I need to scale back a tad, which got me thinking about bonsai.
I hadn't really thought about natives and bonsai, but a friend showed me some images and after a play on the internet, somehow I got here. I'm glad I did. There is a lot to take in from some of the amazing things people are doing, but this especially is quite special and inspirational. Wow.
I know what I'll be looking through for a while now!

Many thanks for the kind words LeeBee73 and I’m glad you got something out of it. Inspiring people to get into bonsai and look to natives as a great option to create them definitely makes the efforts worthwhile.
Enjoy your bonsai journey!

[Ryceman3]

Repot for this mel today, and I decided on a change of pot.
Similar modus operandi to the other recent native repots I've done, I'll let the photos tell the story.
Probably trimmed back another 5-10% from what is shown in the photo with the root pad to get it to sit low enough. It actually has more room in this pot though, so I expect good growth over the next 12 months.
Tree is coming on well I think.

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[Ryceman3]

After a spring trim. Not a significant amount of change from the last post in Feb after the repot, but just to keep the whole thing updated.
Slowly but surely ...

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[boom64]

Enjoying the run of Ericifolias Ryceman ,all looking great . Cheers John.

[Ryceman3]

Update after another summer cut back for this tree.
The natives have all been growing quite prolifically in the wet lead in to summer we've had. Slowly getting them all back into shape. The more advanced they get the longer it takes though!

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[Ryceman3]

Repot for this tree today.
Things are filling in pretty nicely.
Needs a bit of wire and probably a more thorough 'selective prune' to get some bits back in shape but overall I'm reasonably happy with how it is developing. I'll look at further work once I see it has recovered from this session.
If you have a second go back and check out the first photo in this thread... that was taken essentially 6 years ago. How good are natives!!

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[DaveZ]

That's a damn nice tree. Good job.