leptospermum in training

[craigw60]

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I am now at the stage where I am starting to grow some trees I will be able to manage into old age. There are a range of species I am growing into smaller trees that will be very easy to move. These are some of the tea trees which is one of my favorite genus. I don't want these trees to have great thick trunks or extreme taper I will save that look for the tridents, banksia and casuarina. The tea tree I will grow with slender trunks and soft taper. These trees are at the stage when I am just starting to rough some shape into them, they have never been really pushed on but rather grown quite slowly being cut back 2 or 3 times during the growing season. I bought them as tube stock and have been wiring them often for trunk movement and 3 dimensional curves. I have not really done any branch selection or intensive training yet. Most of the long branches are sacrifice branches.

[Amanda]

Especially fond of the tea tree, lovely movement. Got some good stock there

[Grant Bowie]

Especially fond of the tea tree, lovely movement. Got some good stock there

Hi Craig,

Does that mean we get to keep the big ones eventually?

Grant

[Jarrod]

Just teriffic. I will be up to see you one day soon!

[Jamie]

very nice craig

when you say these are X amount of years from tube, i presume that some of that time is ground grown? or is that all container grown? it just goes to show if patience is there then trees will develop in a reasonable time. all that is required is patience and some good care!


jamie

[craigw60]

Hi Grant yes you will get the big ones eventually but I reckon I've got a few more years with them.
Hi Jamie, there has been no field growing yet the pots they are in now are the biggest they have been in so far. Next summer I will move some into bigger pots and try a couple in the ground to see how they go, but field growing is really about large trunks and massive taper and thats not really what I am chasing here I want to get that classic tea tree look with twisted trunks and defined foliage pads.
Craig

[Jamie]

excellent craig

i am sure you will get the look you are chasing! and for only 5-8 years in a container for those trees is some good work! that 12 year old one that came up by itself i would be nearly happy to find a pot for it and continue its refinement in the pot

great stuff!


jamie

[Grant Bowie]

Hi all,

I have said it before and probably will again but I think this leptospermum will be one of the real stars of australian bonsai.

They get that lovely muscling of the trunk so easily and in pot culture. They bush up so freely, bud back nicely and are quite forgiving. There must also be some nice ones out there for digging up.

I lightly ruined one this year trying to get it ready for the native show but it is now doing fine. I potted in the middle of all the heat and one portion got extra sun on it before it should and it defoliated that portion but came back so strongly its astonishing.

I could photograph it if interested.

Grant

[craigw60]

Thanks Jamie, the older tree will stay in a pot now I don't want to push it on too much any more. The others are a mixed batch I have quite a few of them so will give them different treatments. But some I will start to refine and they should really improve over the next few years.
Craig

[craigw60]

How right you are Grant, laevigatum should be a principal australian species. They require lots of pinching but are worth the effort and can be trained in so many different styles.These trees root prune so easily and develop that great trunk fluting quite young.
Craig

[Kunzea]

Hi Craig
Wonderful set of trees! I agree the the leptos are a splendid group to work with. I can't say they are best only because there are so many other genera out there that are also stunning!

My experience with leptos has not seen any risk of getting too fat a trunk. Even when put in the ground for 5 years, the trunk grows, yes, but not what a bonsaist would call 'fattening up' in the way the casuarinas and some banksias do. The leptos stay relatively slender.

The bark on the trunks and major branches is fantasitic and so different between different species. L. trinervum has 'french pastery' thin layers; L. brachyandrum peels a single layer off a bit like a gum tree, with the old bark being a mid to light brown and the new underbark a soft pastel green - stunning; L polygalifolium has a stringy bark that is well in proportion to it size; L grandifolium has what I think of as 'cardboard bark' as distinct from 'paper bark' and I don't know what L megacarpum is going to be like when it gets older....

Shaping the crown so that it doens't mimic pines or maples is often a challenge, but the coastal shapes of the classic tea trees is certainly worth aiming for. Getting that ridged trunk is possible as you've found out and it is just stunning. With so much interest in the trunk form and texture, appreciating them is quite an involved visual exercise - if you only give it the 2 minute quickie, you will miss some of the best parts.

With all your skill in making miniature trees, I'm certainly one who is eagerly waiting to see what you produce!

Cheers
K

[craigw60]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Kunzea. One of the advantages of growing things in batches is you generally end up with at least one good one.
Lepto. horizontalis was conspicuous in its absence one your list. I know it was a bit overdone as a roundabout plant in the 70s but it has always struck me as one worth trying ?
I quite like growing the laevigatums in Japanese styles with rounded crowns and defined branches. The patersonii need to be a little less formal due to their growth habit but compensate by have superb bark and the best scent when being worked on.
Craig

[anttal63]

Hey craig coastal tea trees are fun! Check out my gallery of inspirational trees from the Lorne foreshore. Yes these are to rival junipers as they age, their veins swell, twist and snake. Definately of a feminine nature. Something else truly!


Grant there is an invasion of them on the southern coast, the authorities have been trying to rid them for some time now. I am under the impression that they are an extremely difficult specie to collect.

[Grant Bowie]

Hey craig coastal tea trees are fun! Check out my gallery of inspirational trees from the Lorne foreshore. Yes these are to rival junipers as they age, their veins swell, twist and snake. Definately of a feminine nature. Something else truly!


Grant there is an invasion of them on the southern coast, the authorities have been trying to rid them for some time now. I am under the impression that they are an extremely difficult specie to collect.

Thats a pity but not unusual for some aussie natives. When seed or cutting grown in pots they are so easy.

Grant

[Steven]

G'day Craig,

Any chance on an update of how your Leptospermum are looking 18 months on?

Regards,
Steven