AusBonsai

Very nice work Alpineart. Great determination too. I would have kept it as a semi cascade which will probably produce a less appealing tree in the future. Thump up to you
DK

G'day Pup, by the time i've finished with it it most certainly will have some history and a great story to tell. If i handed it to my Son its 3 generations old , any of my 5 grand children and it 4 generations old . I would have preferred the cream or beige drum pot unfortunately they were only 200mm or less .This blue pot is 260mm but with the white flowers it should have a nice contrasting colour. I cant see it remaining in there for too long it is possibly pot bound already with a base over 110mm .It needs some root work , i will try the tooth pick method , i guess now would be a good time to do it but that would require another pot to sink it lower into , might have to re-pot another tree down in order to do the job .

Cheers Alpine

Hi kvan64 , cascades and semi cascades would be hard yakka .I have 3 layers , 2 of which will be semi and full cascades but they are definitely upright growing tree's .If they are too much like hard work i will turn 1 into a raft and the other into a shohin , either way they grow like a noxious weed . I have used the upper side branch for a new leader, this will hopefully grow on and thicken the upper old leader quicker . At 500mm high i hope to finish the tree at around 700mm as an informal upright or a broom with attitude .

Cheers Alpine

Well this is blooming well , thought i would share his before i hack it back , .This pink tree has appeared from an unknown source , maybe old age is setting in here too.I must ring my Mother to see if she is missing a tree , for the life of me i cant remember where it come from .I took these pics with the old camera and uploaded with the new , won't be doing this too often .

Cheers Alpineart

That is a sweet looking Crepe Myrtle

Hi Damian Bee , its looking good , now its time to hack it back ready for a nicer showing next season .

Cheers Alpine

Hi Alpine

Very nice lookin tree, it's coming along nicely, Dose your Mother have anymore Crepe Myrtle's growne in the back yard

Regard's

The Hacker

Always preferred the white flowers on a myrtle, as always great job alpine.

Hi Hacker , i think she may have a few in the front yard . i trimmed them back hard on my last visit .

Hi VS , Hopefully next season there will be a White cascade and a Raft forest from the layers i took off it .

Cheers Guys . Alpine

alpineart wrote:
Hi VS , Hopefully next season there will be a White cascade and a Raft forest from the layers i took off it .

Hmmmmm might layer a myrtle next season Now to find a white one.

Well i did trim this prior to leafing out then let it run . With this impressive display of flowers it has and will be allowed to continue untrimmed for the rest of the season then cut back hopefully thickening the new leader and branches somewhat . With the flowering on the ends of the new growth the canopy on this tree will have to be around 900mm in diameter . With a base of 100mm it should have good proportion . I'll be keen to see the root mass with such strong growth , come winter another pot will be sourced be it bigger or smaller depending on the roots . The bark on the trunk is just beginning to exfoliate which adds further character , it will be even better once the canopy is higher up the trunk and the natural features can be exploited .

Cheers Alpineart

Hi Alpineart, so do you cut back hard after flowering?

Qitianlong wrote:Hi Alpineart, so do you cut back hard after flowering?

Hi Qitianlong , mate i did last year , but the leader and branches didn't thicker a great deal .I won't cut this until the growth begins to slow down .This will hopefully set the new buds for next year.I will cut it back to maybe 4-6 sets of leaves so the growth will hopefully be short with more shoots/branches to produced next year . This is my first Crepe Myrtle so its all trial and error . I wasn't happy cutting it back after flowering last year hence the change of tactics will hopefully produce different results , i'm hopping for shorter branches for the flowers to grown on giving a more compact canopy .

Cheers Alpine

Love your work Alpine!!:)

Thanks Alpineart! I'm starring at mine and wondering what to do, they're all over the place! No form whatsoever, lovely flowers, but otherwise just crazy... so I will do like you're trying, and leave the growth for a bit... keep me updated!