AusBonsai

Acacia Howittii

Nursery plant, bought in 2002. Initial styling was done during a demonstration by the artist, at the AABC National Convention in Canberra, in 2004. The emphasis was placed on highlighting the naturally pendant feature of the branches. Abundant flowering in Spring; flowers pale yellow in colour.The artist is greatly interested in the flora of Australia, and dedicated to the growing of Australian native plants as bonsai. He is also an accomplished potter, as witnessed by the hexagonal pot he made for this wattle.
Please excuse our interim cascade stand as we wait on a donor of a new one!

Here is a flowering shot.

looks to be a beautiful tree, is there any way the trunk could be more exposed it seems to be a great feature that is concealed by foliage.
Craig

Interesting observation Craig. This is a tree for seeing 'in the bark' as people say.

The trunk is variously hidden and exposed. The viewer is thus invited to move around a bit to see 'inside' at the marvellous display of the features of this trunk. It resembles a powerful arm, with smooth, dark green skin, almost rippling with strong sinews as it bends, twists and lifts the mass of fine branches. The contrast of the power of the trunk and the delicacy of the pendent branches is one of the very attractive features of this tree - a trully fine expression of yang and yin. Many a visitor has gasped in delight on seeing this tree, tucked away in its corner.

Exposing the trunk fully, as in traditional bonsai, would lose much of the power of this tree. It limits what the photo-viewer can perceive, but I guess not everything is transmissable with photos. In seeing the full trunk you could marvel at its power, but you would lose in its over-exposure and loss of intrigue. It has some features of Zen in this respect.

Cheers
K

In the short time I've been on this forum, this tree has to be the best I've seen on it. And the pot is just perfect.

I just have to get to Canberra to see it in real life.

This one and Denise's A.Howittii have given me a real interest in this species over all others

I am with you on this Ron

This would have to be one of the more elegant natives that i have seen here. Nice work and I would like to see more of these as they progress in the future.

Hi Kunzea, Thanks for that as you well know a photograph only gives us one dimension so I probably should have reserved my judgement. I can see it is a superb work.
Craig

Lovely tree. Very graceful.
Jerry

Kunzea wrote:The trunk is variously hidden and exposed. The viewer is thus invited to move around a bit to see 'inside' at the marvellous display of the features of this trunk. It resembles a powerful arm, with smooth, dark green skin, almost rippling with strong sinews as it bends, twists and lifts the mass of fine branches. The contrast of the power of the trunk and the delicacy of the pendent branches is one of the very attractive features of this tree - a trully fine expression of yang and yin. Many a visitor has gasped in delight on seeing this tree, tucked away in its corner.

What a beautifully poetic description of an awesome tree!

While at the NBPCA recently, I was captured by the charm of this Sticky Wattle and snapped the attached shot of the trunk. It doesn't however even come close to expressing the powerful movement and stance that can be observed from viewing in person.
And here it is as it sits on the podium at the NBPCA.
Regards,
Steven

Came accross an earlier picture and thought some might be intrested

Nice shot Bretts
thanks for sharing, It give a different prospective

What area is Acacia Howittii native to? I've noticed some roadside large shrubs/small trees south of Michelago and wondered if they were this species.

I presume since it is in the National Collection that it is frost hardy, or is it housed in a more protected area in winter?

Seeing the beautiful examples of this plant in the National Collection and in the recent AusBonsai comp has certainly sparked my interest in them.

Jan.

hi jan
A howittii is native to south Gippsland, Vic. It is tolerant of light frost, which for me has been down to about -4C; below that young growth is browned-off, though mature phyllodes seemed ok.

H Bretts
'Thanks' for that photo. It reminds me of those photos one sees in the newspaper celebrating someone's 21st birthday, and the image is of them as a naked baby !!! Fortunately, for me at least, the tree has 'matured'.

K

Hi Kunzea

As this Acacia is native to Vic any ideas from your self or other how it would tolerate a more humid climate like mine here in South East Qld

Hi Kunzea
I should have noted the picture came from the NBPCA website. I was looking for images of the tree in nature it seems your image is better than nature

I did not want to pollute this thread with my crappy virt but I had a play with this tree here.
viewtopic.php?f=96&t=4424
Hope you don't mind