Shohin Luma apiculata

[Mojo Moyogi]

Here's a little Luma I have been playing about with since mid 2007. It is from inexpensive nursery stock (about $12), when I bought it, I had no idea how it would do in bonsai cultivation. I had used them a fair bit in my Landscape Design days as a hedging plant, which they are brilliant at. It turns out they make pretty good bonsai too. I'm not too sure about their potential to make decent trunks, but they are vigourous growers above and below the soil, this tree was potted into this shallow pot in one hit from a 20cm plastic squat pot, if the soil and aftercare is good, I have found that you can be brutal .
I found out recently that Brent Walston from Evergreen Gardenworks has grown them and says they should be more widely used as a bonsai species. I agree.

The tree is 23cm tall with a 35mm trunk diameter.

Luma apiculata 1.0.jpg

The bark of this species is dreamy, Luma is from the Myrtaceae family, the bark has similarities to smooth barked Eucalypts.

Luma bark.jpg

White flowers have a pleasant scent and are seen from mid December to the end of February.

Luma flower.jpg

[craigw60]

Hi Mojo, Nice little tree only one comment I would make which is probably more of a personal taste issue. I reckon the first branch on the left should be shortened a bit and the emphasis shifted to the right of the tree in line with its slight incline.
Luma seems to have dropped off the radar a bit these day they used to be quite common in the nurseries but not any more. There is a cultivar with very beautiful variegation around but its extremely slow.
I wonder if you have ever experimented with myrtus ugni then you could have a little snack while your working
Craig

[alpineart]

Hi Mojo , very nice little tree , i especially like the brutal bit . That my kinda tree .There is a nursery up here i need to visit so i will check out the availability of one .Cheers

[bodhidharma]

Nice little tree Mojo. They make a beautiful bonsai and i have quite a few of them. They ramify easily and they do develop good trunklines. Chilean guavas are close in looks and also make good trees.

[bonscythe]

Hi Mojo,
I had never heard of this genus before but it looks quite appealing!
I like where it is heading but after reading craig's comment, I would agree but only to the tune of a couple of cms. (Maybe to the edge of the pot?!)
Keep us updated with this interesting one!
Can we see some guava's bodhi?
Cheers

[nealweb]

Nice tree. My very first thought was that the bottom left branch was the longest even though it tilted right but then i saw that the theme was continued all the way up the tree and it seemed to have a flow to it. So ????? Awesome that you can chop the roots so hard too
Good looking tree!!!

[Mojo Moyogi]

Craig and Bodhi, I had an Ugni molnae/Mytus ugni - Chillean Guava years ago, just a young tree, I never saw it flower or fruit unfortunately. Another evergreen flowering species that is readily available and is good for shohin is Escallonia.

Craig I understand what you mean regarding branch length, there is a few balance issues that need adjustment, fortunately these things are easily rectified. Does the Luma in your garden grow almost year round? I find up here (where it can get bitter in winter) this species only goes dormant for July and then it away again in August.

Alpineart, Luma apiculata is available by the ute load in wholesale nurseries in Melbourne if you can't find them near you.

Nealweb, Luma backbuds really well, you can make mistakes with this species and remove/regrow pretty much at will in spring and summer

Cheers
Mojo Moyogi

[Rhiannon]

Dreamy is the perfect way of describing that bark - I love it.

[craigw60]

Hi Mojo, I have a compact form of luma as a clipped shrub and yes it grows most of the year, I suspect it could make great shohin, the foliage is much smaller than the species. I also have myrtus ugni growing and fruiting here. The fruit size of that one would also suit shohin. you are very welcome to cuttings.
I've thought about escallonia before, they get nice flakey bark quite young and often have good perfume. You would have to prune them every day.
Craig

[Mojo Moyogi]

This little one was bought at the same time but was treated differently in that it was grown in a seed tray and the trunk was chopped and regrown 4 times in 3yrs giving it a much better trunkline. It now needs a couple of years worth of secondary and tertiary branch development. This tree shows the beauty of the bark of Luma apiculata much better than the previous tree.

The tree is 160mm tall and has a 28mm trunk diameter.

Mini Luma 1.0.jpg

Cheers
Mojo

[craigw60]

That one is really nice the whole tree has a beautiful sense of flow
Craig

[Mojo Moyogi]

Thanks Craig, it is my favourite of the 2.
I would like to grow another batch of Lumas with more focus on nebari and basal flare. The thought of that cream and orange, flaky bark extending out onto a radial surface root display is appealing. I will probably grow them from cuttings for better control of the results. The weakness of these 2 trees is that they were created from ordinary nursery stock, due to that fact, they have their limitations. What these 2 little trees have helped to clarify, is that the species has a lot of bonsai potential, especially for shohin.

Escallonia grows like a weed as you suggest, I am a fan of the bark, similar to Callistemon or Melaleuca , but I don't like the flowers much at all, they seem to impede on the shape of the tree too much and my preference for flowers is somewhat simple in form. But I am growing Escallonia for it's bark and foliage, that is enough to keep me interested.

I may just take you up on your generous offer of cuttings of Chillean Guava, that sounds like a project for the spring, hopefully I will have the bugs ironed out of the fogging sytem in my polytunnel .

Cheers
Mojo

[craigw60]

Hi Mojo, the myrtus ugni cuttings are ridiculously easy to strike wave them over the prop mix and they'll send out roots.
I know what you mean by the nursery stock option, I am a bit down on that way of acquiring stock that way these days, too many problems for a couple of years advantage.
Much better to home propagate and get the roots sorted young and some wire on the trunk for curves right at the base of the tree.
Craig

[Jamie]

gday Mojo

i like both trees, very muchly!! that first one i actually like the length of the left branch, i think it balances the tree more so than what it would if shortened. the trunk line leans to the right it needs the counter of the left hand branch to bring it back, so i owuldnt change the length, what i would do is grow the crown out some more and have it slightly larger. not much just a bit.

the second one is tops!! i will have to keep an eye out for these ones mate

jamie

[hugh grant]

Brilliant looking trees mojo I'm very impressed by them.
Do they bud back well or at all if you give them a complete trunk chop? Cuz the funny thing is I actually dug one up 2 days ago an chopped it back to just the trunk. It's not that thick only about 1.5cm

hugh