AusBonsai

G'day,

Last year in December (on my Birthday actually) I went on a road trip to Queensland which included a trip to Stephen and Dianne Rawkins nursery, Australian Bonsai Grower.

While there I picked up half a dozen different species of ficus including the following White Bark Retusa.
It needed to be trunk chopped to fit in the back of the car and Steve was kind enough to let me borrow his saw for the task. Funny how you don't get the same reaction when trunk chopping trees at a standard nursery
Unfortunately I don't have any shots of it before the chop but it was in a standard 12 inch pot and was approximately 1.2 meters tall.

In early January the roots and branches were severely cut back to barely anything. Oh bugger as Pup would say... no photo! It was planted high into a training pot with sphagnum moss around the base of the trunk to try and encourage some more roots. There was already a decent start but I wanted some more to fill in the gaps.

It recovered really well and powered on with new growth almost immediately. It has sat on my bench until now soaking up the sun and occasionally having some wayward growth clipped.
This is how it looked last week;
Last Friday afternoon I defoliated;
and on Sunday I trimmed a few obviously unwanted branches then wired ready for styling;
Before I style it on Wednesday night, I would be interested to hear different opinions for how you think it should look.
Critique, opinions, comments (good and bad), virts etc are all welcome.

Thanks for reading,
Steven

Hi mate

It looks good to me but im only new to this and i killed everything i try to get to grow. But nice work

I hope when i get my new plant it will look good and ill upload some pics too. keep us informed

G,day Steven, having a look at this nice little tree, I think the right side might make a better front. It has good branch placement and the nebari is good one minor prob, which can be fixed easily.

With all the foliage, gone my assumption could be all wrong, is it possible to get a shot of the right side naked

Cheers Pup

G'day Pup,

Just snapped the shot you requested and the other sides.
Regards,
Steven

Might take a bit to get those branches round but it dose it for me, now how about you?. Thanks for the picture, it means I can take my tounge out of my cheek now.

Cheers Pup

G'day Steven, I can't tell from the pics which is the best front, but your selection looks to be pretty good to me, I think you need to try and get some movement into the new leader and the branches, then shorten everything. Never be in too much of a hurry to get to the eventual branch length, each time you cut and regrow you get that little kink in the branches/twigs which makes trees look older and interesting. This is a great little tree with beautiful bark.
Your garden looks pretty nice to.
Craigw

I like the branching in the original front, but much prefer the nebari in the Right as Pup suggested

Ahh the Pain of deciding!

ken

Hi Steven,

I would love to see more of your pond in the back ground!!!

Jase

G'day Steven, i like the front you have chosen (with the ?) but i would make the leader the one going off to the left and chop the one going straight up off. It would create much more movement in my opinion.

I like all the lines of your "front" front, but the trunk after the big chop could do with being a lot thicker. Maybe focus on that, and build design later.

Just my 2 cents.

Gavin

G'day,

Sorry for the delay in responding.

Pup wrote:...having a look at this nice little tree, I think the right side might make a better front.

Hi Pup, the base and roots are nicer from that angle but the trunk and leader movement (away then towards viewer) make it awkward. It's always hard to judge by photos.

craigw60 wrote:...I think you need to try and get some movement into the new leader and the branches, then shorten everything. Never be in too much of a hurry to get to the eventual branch length, each time you cut and regrow you get that little kink in the branches/twigs which makes trees look older and interesting. This is a great little tree with beautiful bark.

That is VERY good advice Craig! Thanks! I did end up cutting back but probably not as much as I should have. I'm a slow learner.

bodhidharma wrote:...i like the front you have chosen but i would make the leader the one going off to the left and chop the one going straight up off. It would create much more movement in my opinion.

You are right Diederik, it would make for a much more dynamic tree in the long run but I have a lot of trunks in pots waiting for 'the long run'. I can always chop it back later if I'm not happy with the current incarnation.

GavinG wrote:the trunk after the big chop could do with being a lot thicker. Maybe focus on that, and build design later.

Cheers Gavin, it is unnatural at the moment despite doubling in thickness since January. I'm guessing it should only take 2 growing seasons to look more in tune.

Well, here is how it looks after some bending;
What would you have done? Would you have bent the branches so they angled downwards? Chopped it back to the first branch?

Regards,
Steven

Very nice clear photography Steve!

Grant

In the lastest Photo "front" I would lower the first left and right braches to horizontal or just a little lower.

I see many mature figs along Victoria Rd on the way to work. The lowest branches dip below the horizontal and then finish level at the tips

Ken

The photography I like, the tree I like, the position of the tree I would change a tad. I think the tree needs to be moved a tad to the right more, for a more balanced look. Also, perhaps it could be tipped a little to the left so that first branch would appear a little more horizontal, but I like the tree a lot and am probably being just a little bit "picky".

I think your pruning is great Steven what you have taken off seems about right to me.
Craigw