african boxthorn literati

[aaron_tas]

this is my second entry in the new stock section.

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this african boxthorn is yamadori dug from the shoreline along the stretch between howrah and tranmere in hobart, last spring.

it is considered a noxious weed in this area and the council basically handed me a shovel and asked how many could i take

it gets some insignificant flowers followed by awesome looking tiny orange berries.

i don't know if it's just me, but it hasn't grown as much as i'd hoped for a species that is considered a weed in these parts

i have a couple of shohin ones of these, and i think i've figured out how to grow them properly, so i'm going to try to push this one for the comp

i haven't really looked at this one since it was dug, ill get it out in a minute and we'll see how she goes...

[aaron_tas]

i forgot to mention she sits at about 800mm.

i just spent a bit of time repotting this one into a training pot, and the roots of this species are very fiborous, sort of like the way junipers have thier fiborous roots, except this has a more delicate system, like a fine mat, limited to not many if any of the roots that run, and become the stabiliser roots.

although i am not sure of the exact angle just yet, here's a start...

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check out the hardcore bark all the way up the trunk to the new growth

ab6.jpg

the movement is also differing in agressiveness and is also unpredictable, so finding a harmonic rhythum that sits balanced may be difficult in this tree.

ab7.jpg

also as you see at the base, there is some carving to be done, and i intend to exploit the movement of the major sap line into the trunk, and carve the straight section down much further, possibly into a low jin, or even go just to shari.

ab8.jpg

[anttal63]

those abrupt changes are known as "rapture's" these tend to speed up the rythm of the movment then calm with a curve and again and so on. bit like a rollercoaster. love this material azz!

[Jamie]

no matter how hard you try to bend, twist or tweak, you just cant mimic what nature's harsh elements and environment can do can ya.

that is an awesome piece of material to be putting in mate, awesome.

cant wait to see you get this one booming

jamie

[aaron_tas]

i brought my tree in "just for a look" 2nyt...

boxi not wired.jpg

and decided to put a bit of wire on, i used 4mm for the top heavier section. the rest got the 1.5 treatment, multiples if necessary

boxi wired.jpg

...ready for a little movin and a groovin...