AusBonsai

amazing lil horizontal branching calliandra ('brevipes' hula girl, powder puff) i found randomly today hiding at the local plant supermarket.... i am indeed excited about it!!!
has anyone firsthand experience they would like to share?
thanks
luke

No i havent LL. But i wouldnt mind seeing a picture of it.

bodhidharma wrote:No i havent LL. But i wouldnt mind seeing a picture of it.

too dark now but i ill take some pics before i touch it!!!!! its quite a find i think! the compound leaves close at night .... looks like its starving for water atm but its just chilling!!
reminds me of bali for some reason!!! i cant let this tree die so i am going to refine my operations on it!!!!!
--->next sat (20th), one third of the (rootbound) roots will be removed, the original pot will be cut down and some longer 'sucker shoots' will be removed..
will be "re seated" with no major disturbance..

this tree is freekin mad i think!

lucas

i just found these today myself, the one i got was pink poodle or something like that, it has the pink bloom, they have a very interesting leaf, luciano has a few that he collected and he has created some great trees from them over in brazil.

i havent taken pics as mine needs a lot of growing to be done, i think they are a quick grower though so hopefully it wont take to long


jamie

yeah i discovered them today also.... mine has a rad double trunk with very lateral spreading branches!!! flat but fat!!! each trunk is at least 25mm.
i am keen to dig a lil and see what is under the covers.. we shal see i guess...

luke

thats way bigger than mine, but i think i might go back and get the other two that were there and wrap them all together to and get them to fuse to increase trunk size, i would presume it would work as they are fast growers and a tropical tree.


jamie

dont forget the unusual flowers and compound leave attributes jamie id go find some naturally (nursery) dwarfed treat if i was you... mine is mad and yes i am bragging!!
luke

yea thats a prob here where i am, i only occasionally find gems, most of the time it is sheer fluke, like i will walk into a nursery after not being there for 2 years and there will be an absolute ripper in the bargain section
i do like the minute compound leaves and the stunning flowers....ok i love em

jamie

i cant see anyone in aus bonsai not really liking this 'treat'.

luke.

show us your caliandra.. i'm trying to post one of mine. do you like all caliandra's?

here are some pics... i havnt touched it yet.
there is a chance it will become 2 seperate trees?... i havnt decided where to go with it yet.






luke

hmmm, that one doesnt look like mine, mine has different leaves.

this is what the one i have looks like


the leaves close right up at night and look like little twiglets

jamie

more pics of it after dark with the groups of leaves closed


luke

it depends on the cultivar to how the leaves are i think, mine is as above which is a eriphollia, i thenk yours is brevipes or something along those lines.


jamie

hey jamie, yep it is indeed a calliandra Brevipes. your eriphollia looks to have similar leaves to that of the jacaranda and poinciana! except with the added bonus of morphing shape after dark
The way the trunk(s) extend outward in a horizontal/lateral motion on my tree also reminds me of jacaranda and poinciana growth traits. 'we have 2 very large examples of jacs and poins here in the yard.... i climbed the poins as a kid i now wish it was the size of a basketball
anyway could you post a pic of your calliandra? iam interested to see it whole..
also.. have you found any specific details on bonsai care for these trees? (foliage pruning)?... i have found some pieces of info but no goldmines.

cheers mate

luke