AusBonsai

Hi All, Two months ago i was doing a landscape job on the cliff tops of St Andrews beach in Rye Victoria. The land was going to be cleard for a house, there were very old coasal tee trees growing prostrate along out crops of lime stone that had been punished by the costal wind for years, i took the chance and dug 10, 6 have servived all of these trees have natural shari and very old flakey bark.

Good find John , they all have great character, lucky bugger :Di especially like the 3rd and 5th pics,,,, Craig

Amazing stock. Love the first raft. These will come up very nicely the next 5 odd years with very little work.

Just goes to show, bonsai growers need to be in the landscaping industry!

awesome man, im very very jelous

Verry nice find

My Nephew ( almost in law) has recently started work as a landscaper, and I have advised him to be on the lookout for me

Ken

I like 1, 2 and 3. A lot of character in those trunks. Good find John.

Great material John! Lots of character and age to them.
With your skills they will develop into credible bonsai and I'm very keen to follow the progression of them.

I'd like to learn more about how you collected them. Did you do anything different with the survivors after digging? Did you bare root them or keep the existing root ball intact? Did you reduce the foliage much? What about after care - kept moist and out of the wind? Sorry for all the questions mate.

Regards,
Steven

Yes a wonderful find. All the questions that Steven asked to be answered would be great.

G,day John you have done really well these things have a reputation for being difficult to collect.
Craigw

Hi All, The trees that did not make it were all dug by hand takeing a large root ball , coastal tee tree when older will find it difficult to survive ,the larger trees were all growing over lime stone in very little soil so i put the bob cat blade under them and lifted them off the lime stone like a large pizza base, they were all put in pots with no root disturbance tip pruned and waterd with seasol,i will now leave them for 12 months to put on growth.
john m

YAMADORI ENVY.....

John,

These are all stunning, the trees are very lucky it was you who got the job of landscaping the property. I was going to pose the same questions, many thanks for your information on which survived & which didnt. It is similar to my own experience with a much smaller one, it too came off rock with its rootball intact, the only one that survived from that dig.

I look forward to seeing these regain vigour & become some excellent native yamadori.

Matt

Wow, Fantastic find. I love the windswept tea trees around those parts. Definately hunting now for the limestone conditions you describe.

Could not resist , i have done a very lite wire job on the two smallest trees, i cant wait to do a major style on the larger trees,i do not want to change the natural look of these trees from the harsh cliff top conditions they came from .
Thanks John m