Native Bonsai

[Ed Dunkel]

Not sure where to place this (as it isn't really bushfood, medicine, psychactive etc...) but could be all of the above or not. Bushfood seemed the most general [shrug]

Anyway, Bonsai-ing with Aussie natives. Anyone had a go at this?

I found this website with some nice bonsai piccies:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/7 ... ml#species

Pretty cool. You could grow a bonsai quandong (could be hard!!!) or a little corkwood and drill a little hole in the bark, fill with water and have a little shot the next day

E D

[Rimbaud]

thanks Ed - i sure have a lot of "unintended" aussie bonsais ....! For instance my Citrus australasica's...!

i reckon both brachychiton rupestris (bottle tree) and b. acerifolius (illawarra flame tree) would make awesome bonsais too.

u know, regarding the baobab post on SAB Ed, i think B. rupestris is a kind of "everyman's baobab", easy to grow, tolerant of cool wet conditions, fast-ish growing, and quick to develop the swollen trunk.

also i spose A. gregorii COULD be bonsai'd.... oh man... i shudder to think of the effort involved! For one thing it would need to be heated all year i reckon, even in the dry winter.

and i think the ficus spp mentioned, esp. the port jackson, are very much prized for their bonsai-ability, even overseas. Can't beat those aerial roots

oh yeah and sometimes at the markets i see very advanced, fruiting bonsais of exotics like peach trees, apple trees etc.... i reckon a native like Solanum aviculare would be PERFECT as a bonsai, with its smallish, ever-colour-changing fruit. WOuld look gorgeous.

[darcy]

i reckon the sandpaper fig would bonsai well (Ficus coronata). I've used some Ficus watkinsiana (strangling fig(?)) as a bonsai on top of some rocks, they look cool.

My finger lime has minature fruit anyway and it's a grafted one!

[Benzito]

Pretty much any ficus can be trained as Bonsai, and they are especially suited to root-over-rock style.
I have a few local variants of the Port Jackson fig, that I harvested along the Nepean river. (as seeds people, I'm not an eco-vandal)
Very beatiful, and they grow most of the year.

[darcy]

[Rimbaud]

That's Ficus watkinsiana by the way


if anyone wants to try some Ficus platypoda as bonsais, i have some clean viable seed which i really should get rid of soon so let me know and i will do a swap

[prier]

I know nothing about bonsaiing so please excuse my noob question, what about eucalypts or acacias, is it possible?

[Ed Dunkel]

The general idea is if you can keep it in a pot and it isn't fuzzy about its confined space, trimming and pruning or root pruning. It will probably work.

Start with a species that has small leaves or it won't look very proportioned.

Aussie natives an bonsaiing is still a relatively unexplored area. Try and see if your species works.

Check: http://www.bonsai-in-asia.com/ and http://farrer.riv.csu.edu.au/ASGAP/bonsai.html
and click on Australia and surf away.

[spottedquoll]

you may want to have a look at www.quahbonsai.com, I met the proprietors father (pictured on the site) yesterday while he was fishing & I was taking a break from bush regen, he is bonsai-ing a few natives and is even bonsai-ing Wollemi Pine.... funny the people you run into on a wharf.......

not really into bonsai-ing natives, I'd much rather torture exotic plants....

[eataust]

I just noticed that Kuranga Nursery (http://www.kuranga.com.au/Index.php?page=Information) has a leaflet called "Australian Plants in Bonsai Cultivation". I suspect you have to visit to get the leaflet, but if you were to ring and ask nicely, they might be able to post/fax/email a copy to you :)

[the1after909]

The National Botanical Gardens has a ripper Aussie Bonsai page! http://www.anbg.gov.au/bonsai/index.html

[trish_g]

I'm really keen on using dry rainforest species as bonsais. They don't need full sun, so I keep them under the eaves to reduce the need for constant re-hydration in summer. They seem to be very tolerant of the erratic drought-and-flood regime that is normal for pot plants at my place.
Their smaller-than-rainforest leaves give them a head start in the proportion stakes.
Species I'm growing include Elattostachys (brilliant red new leaves), Streblus, Erythroxylon, Rhodosphera, Cassine and Flindersia (now that will be something if it ever sets fruit!
I particularly think the Cassine (Elaeodendron, red olive-plum) should have great potential as it fruits fairly freely and the fruits should be a good size in proportion to the little tree.
However I've only been doing this for a few years, so have no long-term results to report.
I lost two little Allocasuarina torulosa because I let them dry out, which I'm very cross about. They had developed wonderful, fat, corky little trunks in a very short time. I thought they would be better than the DRF species with regard to the occasional drying out, but it was not so.
Trish

[cherax]

Hio Trish
yes drying up can be a major problem. Casuarinas can tolerate wet feet quite well.
The trees that you mention might be a bit hit and miss. I have been doing it a fair while and none of these trees are mentioned or seen in B culture.
A lot of Ficus, melaleucas, banksias, grevillias and leptospermums make great subjects. The figs in particular. You can quite easily get the leaf size down.
The real trick is having a good root system. Ideally no tap root. taking it off can be devastating to alot of them. Best to do it when it is a tiny seedling. Rimbaud draws ref to F platypoda. They make a great Bonsai.
A book "rainforest to bonsai" Len Webber, or "Bonsai with aust. native plants" Dorothy & Vita Koreshoff make OK reading. Both commonly available.
Away you go! Andrew

[JumpedAngel]

I have an oz coca that looks nice as a bonzai, not really sure how big these things grow anyway but despite the fact that it seems healthy and is growing it hasnt really grown very much over the past few years.

I've tried many of the native figs including the sandpaper fig, last year while at the botanic gardens I noticed a strangler fig which had fairly small leave, it was easy to pick up fruit so I did and now have about 50 of them (less than a year old)

[trish_g]

Thanks for the comments, Andrew. I'm particularly interested to know about the Webber book.
Yes, the Dry Rainforest trees might indeed be hit and miss, but that's what innovation is, of course. Like you, I haven't found any of these plants recorded as bonsais, which is why I brought the subject up. They're rarely recorded as being grown at all, and to me this is a pity. Dry Rainforest plants are a great raft of plants with unexplored - and apparently high - potential in the garden. They have so many good habits - the rainforesty look (albeit with smaller leaves), the drought hardiness, the flexibility to grow in sun or shade, the long lifespan, the sensible size for suburban gardens, and the roots which seem to be able to thrive while sharing their patch with other plants. The roots have all had at least two prunings since I've had them in pots, and there seem to be no galloping taproot problems. Even the Sapindaceae, which have a reputation for being deep-rooted, don't seem to want to do it with one dominant root.
I'm happy with them so far. (And one of the Allocasuarina torulosa plants, to my delight, wasn't quite dead after all. It will certainly be a tree that looks as though it's lived a complicated life, if I can keep it going this time.)

What is an "oz coca". Angel?
Trish