AusBonsai

One of several old trees I was given when a friend past away a number of years ago. I have always liked this camellia tho to be honest i dont know why I like it so. Its entire life was spent in a small pot & when I acquired it, had not been repotted in over 10yrs. It was healthy & flowered each year so I left it alone for 3yrs even tho it didnt grow at all 2-3leaves per year.

I finally decided to shorten the branches & crown and repotted into this majorly oversized pot 18mths ago & while it looks like it has not really grown at all, it has actually filled out considerably. This is the first time it has flowered since repotting so I thought I would share. The melaleuca seedlings have come up on there own as they do in any of my pots that have locally collected varieties of moss & lichen.

Matt

Such a feminine tree, love the gorgeous flowers.

A lithe towering woman, I love her gentle curves..

I keep coming back to the first branch & wanting to cut it off or move it or I dont know what but it just jars me...

Any thoughts or suggestions

Matt

I woud shotren that first branch back to the shoot, and grow that as a foliage pad to support lots of flowers

Ken

I repotted this one about 12mths ago into a mix of kanuma & basalt chip, it has been growing strongly ever since. The first branch resolved itself during the year with breakage thanks to one of the dogs. The bend was put in about a month ago and for the first week after it was on the wilt & I thought I had gone too far

A reposition at next repot, a few more years, a few more bends...

Matt

Good step, I'm damned if I know how you got away with it! I agree with similar big bends further down at some time. Because the trunk goes up quite a way before it goes down, almost parallel, you might consider leaning it over to the left or the right, depending on what the roots will allow. Seems to me it might flow better. Please keep showing where it's going - most camellias are mainly for the flowers, and good trunk dynamics don't happen a lot. Flowers should show well suspended from the pot like this.

Gavin

GavinG wrote:Good step, I'm damned if I know how you got away with it!

More ass than class This is close to the new planting angle.

Repotted a few weeks ago, its a bit easier to sit on a bench now

That's graceful. Will you be cutting back either of the branches to bare wood?

Gavin

Hi MattA,

I don't know much about camellia, ( although I have about 10 big ones in yards, ) but this one looks like it has a very small leaves. If so, it is very hard to find. Its flowers are usually smaller too?

The ones that I have on the ground all have large leaves and large flowers -- easily 10 cm in diameter.

You have a very nice one there

Cheers.

Hey Gavin, no real plans for it as yet More likely to bend the 2 branches than cut them short, I know camellia shoot well on bare wood but not sure if I want to reduce it that much.

Hey Daviet, the leaves are quite small for a camellia, they do reduce somewhat but flowers dont, this one bears blooms about 5cm dia (small for camellia).

The top branch was removed a couple of weeks ago & today I pruned & wired out the remaining growth.

Last spring I repotted into a sweet Mudlark pot and started raising the roots, it is now time for the next stage, clearing out the dead & fine root to show off these beauties.. the bark really is something special... More work has been started & when its done I will update further.

Carve out, bind with jute, an extra layer of rubber tubing .. crank the &^#$ out of it Give it a while to settle & then on to the next bend...

When You say rubber tubing, do you mean strips from inner car tube?