Kunzea Baxteri - Scarlet Kunzea #2

[Patmet]

This is a Kunzea Baxteri that, although small, has some age to it and a naturally gnarly, angular trunk. It has always had potential as far as the movement in the trunk, but I was having trouble deciding where to go with the tree. I took it along to a workshop in Perth with BSWA September last year, when Evan Salisbury Marsh was there as a visiting tutor. I didn't have time to get to working on this tree, but I got some great advice from Evan and club members that made me look at the material differently, which has led to me coming at the design from an angle I wouldn't have before.

It is now on it's way to becoming a semi cascade.



Before work Novemeber 2022



Selecting an angle and rough front Nov 2022



Midway through work Nov 2022



The product of initial work Nov 2022



Before next round of pruning and wiring Jan 2023



After pruning and branch placement Jan 2023



Current state Feb 2023

Sent from my SM-G9730 using Tapatalk

[Jan]

Great progression; it's quite a change already, and with temperatures the way they are in WA at the moment, you should get some more growth before winter. Very nice, indeed, and a pleasing departure from the informal upright normally seen.

I look forward to seeing more of this plant

Jan.

[dansai]

Nice work pat

[Patmet]

Wrangled the design back in on this tree today. The top got a lot more vigour and growth than the bottom, so I'm going to keep the top clipped back often to let the lower branches gain more strength and some more length for the balance of the design.

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Before work

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After work

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[Patmet]

I just got this into a bonsai pot. It's not the type of pot I initially had in mind. I was thinking some sort of unglazed square or hexagonal shape, but I think this also works. It was something I had sitting on the shelf, and the size was a good fit imo. It's a German Roman Husmann pot. I'm a fan of his work, I like his simplicity and clean technical precision. His glazes are also really nice.

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Hand for scale

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[BirchMan]

Nice tree patmet!

[Trimmy]

Looking good. Glance at it quickly and you could mistake it for a yew.

[boom64]

Great tree and pot combo Patmet.

[rodm]

Top job. Tree and pot work well together
Cheers RodM

[Patmet]

The foliage is starting to get a lot tighter on this now. I just went through yesterday and did a light clean up mainly cutting straight up and down shoots, and upper canopy growth to open it up a bit more. I've left the bottom branches overgrown to direct more strength down there as the top has been getting fairly dominant. A lot of the wire is starting to bite and ready to come off now. I'll go in with wire again maybe early next year.

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Before

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After

[Patmet]

An update on this one after I tried to take some semi-decent photos today.

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This is the front I potted it at with the gap between the feet.

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Next time I repot I want to rotate it to this front. The other one is a bit too frontal and doesn’t show off enough of the stretching trunk.

[Ryceman3]

More drawn to that new angle… it’s amazing how much a subtle angle change can make the difference. Good tree though either front you look at, you’re doing some lovely stuff!

[Jan]

You've created a very pleasing tree, Pat.
Re the planting angle, I like both.
The first gives a glimpse of the trunk line so you can see there is more to discover.
The second puts the lower trunk on show; maybe somewhere between so you retain a bit of mystery?
LOVE the pot - simple elegance and great colour.
Jan.