Adansonia gregorii-- a tree for all styles

[bamboos]

hi all
first a bit of history.
The Australian boab is one of 8 species worldwide. There are six in Madagascar ,one in Africa and one in Australia. The Australian one is the smallest and the prettiest.They only populate the north west of the continent and seem to do best in the stoney arid regions with summer rain.They are extremely long lived - 1500 years is the estimated life span
The tree was named by Baron Ferdinand von Mueller ( who was later the director of the Victorian botanical gardens and the man responsible for naming a huge number of Australian flora) in the 1850's in honour of Augustus Gregory while they were exploring the northwest of Australia around Timber Creek and into the desert to the south. Baron Von Mueller carved the date (July 2nd 1856)when they were leaving into one of the boabs by their base camp and this trees still stands.

gregory's boab.JPG

probably the most famous Australian boab is the prison tree outside Wyndham WA which would have to qualify as a formal upright

formal%20upright.JPG

next would have to be an informal upright (which is in need of a trim )

needs%20trim.JPG

now we have a slanting style

slanting.JPG

and now one which I call fully slanted

fully%20slanted.JPG

is this the end of the tree I think not
a raft perhaps ?

raft.JPG

the boab lives on!
next we have a windswept style

windswept.JPG

a great example of a semi- cascade

semi%20cascade.JPG

and a style not usually seen in bonsai a double semi-cascade !

double%20semi%20cascade.JPG

no collection would be complete without a mother and daughter setting

mother%20and%20daughter.JPG

a forest planting

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then a group

group%20planting.JPG

and finally a shot of the nebari on a street tree in Derby

nebari (2).JPG

I'm sure you agree with me nearly ever style represented!

When the explorers 18 month mission was finished half of them returned by boat and the other half went for a short horse ride ----- across the continent via the Gulf of Carpentaria to Brisbane and we complain about having to go to the shops!
hope you enjoyed the trip
Steve

[Boics]

Thanks for sharing..
Now the big questions...

How do they handle Bonsai culture?
Do they back bud? Do they keep in pots?
Root prune?

Anyone have one?

Cheers,

[bamboos]

Hi Boics
I haven't got one I have a related similar in appearance starter so I will be able to tell you in a couple of years time. I think Neli has some of the African species which would be similar. There was a couple of people said they had some a few months ago but I don't remember the details.
I'm sure they would handle pots ok but I think they would be pretty slow growing.they will back bud judging by what I saw in the Kimberly.around Broome they transplant big trees one has even been moved from the broome area to King's Park in Perth ( maybe 2000 Klms ) it seems to be growing although with fairly sophisticated growing conditions ( to avoid winter rain on the root area I think )
The one I have is Doringa drouhardii which looks similar but is much faster growing and has finer leaves there are large numbers of this species around Broome ( a guy from the council imported them during the 80s -guess he liked them too )
Hope this helps
Ps the seed is available
Regards Steve

[bodhidharma]

Thanks for posting Bamboo. Great shots.

[Meegs]

Hi,
I'm not sure how useful my experience will be, but here goes...
I have two gregorii starters and a digitata that has just gone into a bonsai pot. I also have two qld bottle trees ( which are very different).
They seem to power on in the Perth heat in summer as long as they get water. As for winter, I don't water once their leaves start turning and they go dry under my patio. All are still dormant atm. My digitata has survived two winters in my care, so must be doing something right.
The gregorii in kings park is quite stunning, but has a serious rot / damage problem on the southern side from damage it took during transport. Here's hoping it does ok. They have quite a few up there, so I'm sure they know how to save it.
My digitata came back very well from a major trunk reduction and root prune. Or should I say, recovered from its nursery treatment as 2/3 of its tubers were rotting because of too much water :p it was also meant to be a gregorii purchased while dormant...but never mind.
It seems to heal more like a succulent / jade plant than a tree, but I guess that makes sense because they photosynthesize in their trunks also.
The finer branching seems to coming along, but very slowly as they seem to grow on Kimberly time
So far, I'm finding it tricky to stop tubers from growing straight down. I'm hoping to solve it by using a shallower pot this year. I may try removing a few next season to get it further down. Fingers crossed

[Boics]

Meegs.

Pics or it didn't happen!

[Meegs]

Ha! Now you sound like a TGA inspector! Flashback and cringe!

Hopefully this works, its my first try with photos.

This is the little gregorii pair. The larger on the right is going well, smaller not so well. I have started watering them a little to see if I can break their dormancy. Has been a weird spring here, and alot of my deciduous aren't waking yet. I've only had these about 6 months or so, they are surprisingly hard to get, even in Perth. There was a company up north that was selling them and posting but they haven't been available in quite some time. Short of taking a VERY long drive, its hard to get seeds too. These were from Garden Week. Some others in my club got a few, so hopefully we will see some more in future.

IMG_20130919_114114.jpg

Digitata in new pot

IMG_20130919_114403.jpg

Healing scar

IMG_20130919_114410.jpg

I am tempted to try and trim up that healing scar, but from my past experience with jade plants, that just seems to make it worse. I've decided to leave it alone for now and see how it goes when it puts on some new growth. The rough stuff seems to be shedding off as time passes. The photo doesn't show how green the new healed parts are, in fact the whole trunk is very green so I'm hoping I will see it wake up soon.

[Boics]

Starting to look the part Meegs.

Top stuff and thanks for going to the effort mate!