AusBonsai

Well they've all started to put on new growth for winter. Looking lovely so far.

I'll be repotting in about September I think. Definitely my most exciting native project so far. I've got a tonne of them to trial.
The foliage is adorable. The little flowers are gorgeous too.... they look like little tulips.
To give you an idea of how small that foliage is, those are 4 inch pots.

If these do well after root pruning, I think I’m onto something here. They have continued growing well throughout winter.
And they haven’t died so far....Always a bonus.

Why would you bother with exotic conifers when you can grow these spectacular native beauties.

If these do well after root pruning, I think I’m onto something here.

So I've repot a tonne of these now and they appear to be healthy. They put on a lot of growth over winter (usually above zero degrees winter in my area)
Because they were growing well I made the decision to repot some in early winter and again at the end of winter/start of Spring, just to trial and see.

The flowers are amazing as you can see from my photos. The smell is heavenly (very beautiful perfume). I've included a bee for size comparison. This species really brings a heap of bees during winter. Some I was quite rough during repotting. Its more a trial at this point. I've left the better and older ones for warmer weather before I repot just to be on the safe side with those. I have a gut feeling these might be better repotted in Winter/Spring.

Beautiful flowers Rory , looking forward to seeing were you go with these. Cheers John.

shibui wrote: I love this species and its cousins and have several that have survived in the garden and one still alive in a pot but it is definitely NOT a hardy, foolproof species for bonsai.Just my

For those that read this thread and want to try them, take note Neil was quite right about not being hardy.

The last 5 I repotted was during mid-spring and I was fairly complacent considering the previous good results. I think I went too hard on the immediate root ball near the trunks on these latest ones.
So the original 9 are alive and healthy but these latest 5 are deceased. So going forward I will treat them the same as Leptospermum.
FYI, death comes after about 2 weeks if you overwork the roots. After repotting you start to notice the decline in health and usually within a week all foliage is brown and scratching the bark at base shows dead brown after 2 weeks or so.
The foliage dies consistently all over and doesn't die-back slowly.

They don't grow well in low sun. They love a lot of sun.

I can concur that so far nothing in my area eats them, (bugs/vermin/fauna/rust) don't bother them at all...very happy about that.
They have all started to put on strong growth for the last month or so.

Thanks for the update, Rory. Good to see reports of successes and failures. Hope the 9 continue to do well.

Bad luck Rory ,I guess that is how we learn. Hope the remaining ones power on. Still unsure if I have some of these ,they are flowering at the moment. Very similar to your photos .I will take a quick snap tomorrow and post it up. Hope you don't mind me adding to your post. Cheers John.

Beautiful little species, definitely would love to give it a go but seems tricky. Your sharing of trial and error is much appreciated Rory and Neil's input was informative and hilarious

Hi Rory ,below are a few quick snaps ,repotted them last week as I noticed some die back on the smaller one. Curl grubs were having a great time, cut a lot of flowers off but some are still pushing on. The large tree was very root bound. To be honest it has been sitting in the to do section for quite a while. Flowers look identical and crushed some leaves and are very aromatic. What do you think ? ,or are they to large.. Once again don't mean to hi jack your post Cheers John.

boom64 wrote:Hi Rory ,below are a few quick snaps ,repotted them last week as I noticed some die back on the smaller one. Curl grubs were having a great time, cut a lot of flowers off but some are still pushing on. The large tree was very root bound. To be honest it has been sitting in the to do section for quite a while. Flowers look identical and crushed some leaves and are very aromatic. What do you think ? ,or are they to large.. Once again don't mean to hi jack your post Cheers John.

Beautiful John, gosh I hope they go well for you. There are so many heath varieties across Australia, I wouldn't have a clue The flowers look very similar yes. There are a lot of Micromyrtus varieties too.
You really do have some amazing material John.

Feel free to hijack my threads anytime you like, especially with pics like those

Rory wrote: You really do have some amazing material John.

John I've gotta agree - I'm loving what your doing here, these are looking fantastic....ring a ding ding!!!

Absolutely love your tree in the Bonsai pot John.
I NEED one of these in my life...

Great information and discussion in here team! Well done!

Boics wrote:Absolutely love your tree in the Bonsai pot John.
I NEED one of these in my life...

Great information and discussion in here team! Well done!

Well said. Yes - this is another excellent AusBonsai thread. So much valuable information and encouragement to grow our native trees. I need to more....hmmm.

John - I think you have the best nickname! All your trees go BOOM in my eyes! As I noticed in the Aus Day thread, your trees are unique and capture a real rugged beauty. Indeed, it is almost like a I see certain trees now and say to myself - “that looks like one of John’s.” Great stuff.


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A fair while back there was a long period of non-stop torrential rain and constant cloud. These guys really suffered as a result.
At the time I thought it was too risky to disturb the roots and add river sand at that point, as they were looking quite sad.
So I moved 4 of them into the sunniest positions.
I removed all the top soil and exposed the surface roots to allow for faster draining. I cut away the pots to allow more sunlight. This improved the drainage rate by two-fold.
This has vastly improved the situation and these remaining 4 are starting to put on new growth now as well.

I didn't do this with them all, as I wasn't sure if exposing the roots so soon would kill them or not.
The ones that I didn't expose the roots and didn't get the top soil removed died.

Do not overpot roots, only use just enough potting mix for roots.
Give at least half-day sun, preferably full-sun
Use a fast draining mix. If the mix isn't dry after 36-48 hours of half-day sun its not draining quick enough.
Allow them to really dry out before they are re-watered. I've not seen one of them die from drying out and I've left them quite dry on the odd occasion before re-watering.
When repotting, tie the roots down into the pot or anchor the roots in, but don’t use extra mix to keep the tree secure.

I suspect that starting with a fast draining mix, giving high levels of sun, slowly reducing the rootball over a decade, not over-potting and not removing a lot of foliage at repotting time, will ensure better success.
My glorious optimism should see me fair better next time.

EDIT: John, that little guy is still powering on that I withdrew from the comp, thats him on the left. If they get a day of full sun, they grow about two leaves per shoot, per day.

Well done Rory ,I guess you live and learn in this game .Have to agree with you about the fast draining mix ,I was short of supplies and re potted a couple of natives in a much finer mix . Bad mistake..... as I can see them struggling. Will not do that again. Great time for natives as I experience a lot of growth now ,just a shame the days are so short. Cheers John.