AusBonsai

Thanks again for sharing with us Aussies The little olive is coming along nicely.

Time to add another tree to my little record of trees. This one is a Juniperus procumbens Nana, and was bought from the deceased estate of the late Neville Coxon about a year ago. Neville was struggling a bit with his trees before he passed on, and the result was that they were not in the best of health. This one in particular had a massive piece of the root ball eaten out by curl grubs, so the first thing I did was repot it into a new mix and just let it grow and recover a bit. Needless to say, it is now in fine health and looking like it is starting to move again. Time for a repot. Here it is freshly removed from the grow-on pot:
And then repotted into it's new home. I have trimmed it a bit to try to balance the reduction of roots with reduction of some of the foliage, but it must still be wired and shaped properly. I am really pleased with this tree and I hope that it survives the root reduction and goes on to be a tribute to Neville and his time in bonsai!
Cheers,

Andrew

Nice progressions Andrew, good work.

HOw is the maple coming along andrew?

Just going thru this older thread again and like the virt Gerard has done on the last pic he posted/
Have you done a root graft on it yet?

Ken

Edward Scissorhand wrote:Nice progressions Andrew, good work.

Thanks mate - slowly and surely wins the race. (+lots of advice and help from others!)

Hi Ken,

The maple took a serious health knock as a result of wind and what I believe to have been a pot a bit small for it. About 6 weeks ago I aggressively repotted it to get the roots into a nice new mix, and also to get it into a bigger and deeper pot. I decided to just let it get its health back for now, and I'll start with refining it at a later date. No rush right! Anyway, here it is hastily photo'ed this morning on the way out the door for work!
Cheers,

Andrew

Here is an update of the little procumbens nana. It will be potted into something a bit more appropriate in the next few weeks.
Here's another one - the photo was taken at a young designers contest at our 2010 Easter show.
. . . . and here it is today. It has got a bit fat and flabby (like me ), so it's overdue for a trim in the coming weeks. I'll update it once it is trimmed. Notice the little Bodhidharma sitting under there!
Cheers,

Andrew

Good lot of trees you have there Andrew.

Now this is a call from a complete novice but I kinda like the trident without the branch on the first bend. That bend to me is an important part of the trunk line and I think a branch there would detract from that. What do you think? I think maybe I just like trees with an angle change in the trunk before the foliage starts.

Squizz

squizzy wrote:Good lot of trees you have there Andrew.

Now this is a call from a complete novice but I kinda like the trident without the branch on the first bend. That bend to me is an important part of the trunk line and I think a branch there would detract from that. What do you think? I think maybe I just like trees with an angle change in the trunk before the foliage starts.

Squizz

Yip, the more I think about it and look at the tree, the more I think that adding a branch there would make the tree too big for it's trunk. It is a fairly feminine trunk, and adding all that extra foliage mass may be a bit overpowering! Instead, I am toying with the idea of notching the underneath of the first branch on the left and bringing it down a little bit. Ho hum. Food for thought!

Cheers,

Andrew

Andrew, Has anyone in South Africa tried Bolusanthus (African Wisteria Tree) as Bonsai?

Hackimoto wrote:Andrew, Has anyone in South Africa tried Bolusanthus (African Wisteria Tree) as Bonsai?

Can't speak for us all mate, but here in Cape Town, I have seen plenty of wisterias used for bonsai. Not sure how to determine if they are the vine variety or the tree mentioned above, so can't say for sure. I am not aware of this tree as a specific species used in bonsai locally. I'd keep my eyes open though as it does look lovely!

Just thought I'd drop in an update of the little olive. It will be potted down next season into a little drum.

Andrew Legg wrote:

squizzy wrote:Good lot of trees you have there Andrew.

Now this is a call from a complete novice but I kinda like the trident without the branch on the first bend. That bend to me is an important part of the trunk line and I think a branch there would detract from that. What do you think? I think maybe I just like trees with an angle change in the trunk before the foliage starts.

Squizz

Yip, the more I think about it and look at the tree, the more I think that adding a branch there would make the tree too big for it's trunk. It is a fairly feminine trunk, and adding all that extra foliage mass may be a bit overpowering! Instead, I am toying with the idea of notching the underneath of the first branch on the left and bringing it down a little bit. Ho hum. Food for thought!

Cheers,
Andrew

Andrew,
I feel you should lower the right branch of the trident, not the left one. so you can give it some movement at the same time... But what do I know??? I shall look for some example for you.
Olive looks good!

Neli wrote: Andrew,
I feel you should lower the right branch of the trident, not the left one. so you can give it some movement at the same time... But what do I know??? I shall look for some example for you.
Olive looks good!

Look forward to seeing what you come up with Neli . . . . .

Loving the snapshot of your trees Andrew. A thought that just occurred to me and I thought I'd ask. You seem to not have to much trouble collecting your Olives. Are they a pest plant in and around Cape Town? I ask because they are considered such here in Australia in a couple of places. I know in Adelaide South Australia they are a declared pest and can be found throughout Adelaide, growing wildly in many of the parks and reserves around the City (thankfully A few years ago I remember it was part of the 'Work-for-the-Dole" scheme that teams of people used to go out and cut them down and poison the stumps in an attempt to get rid of them. Again, thankfully, it didn't work and there are still good numbers of trees for the Bonsai enthusiast to go out and dig up.