Melaleuca with wet weather company

[LLK]

January in Canberra has been a very trying month, with average day temps a record 32 degr. C. and only 7 mm of rain, so when we had a good inch of water dumped on us all of a sudden, nature kind of exploded or did funny things. See attached what grew
in the pot of my Melaleuca bracteata overnight! I couldn't believe my eyes.

Lisa

[anttal63]

Cool as Lisa, very cute mushie's. That tree is not bad either! How about some wire and another pic!

[Jonden]

hi Lisa,
All you need now are a couple of fairies dancing around the toadstools and all is complete.
The tree needs some pantyhose and string guidence. ( you will know from this who I am)
Cheers, Jonden

[LLK]

That tree is not bad either! How about some wire and another pic!

Thanks, Antonio, I'll do some work on it in the near future and post another pic. That tree has
had a few health troubles in early Spring, and was repotted fairly recently, so I'm giving it a bit
of a rest right now.

All you need now are a couple of fairies dancing around the toadstools and all is complete.
The tree needs some pantyhose and string guidence. ( you will know from this who I am)

Ggggggrrrrrrr.......iiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!! Sure do.
I'll never live down those days at the Japanese Gardens in Cowra, back in 1997, when instead of
wiring my new trees I tied down their branches with string and strips of pantyhose, explaining to
Jonden, the leader of the workshop, that this method had the advantage of giving the bonsai a
more natural look. I knew all about it, see, coz I'd done bonsai for about a year already.
Jonden was quite surprised, I think, when at the last workshop he conducted here a few months ago
I used wire like everybody else. (B... the natural look.)
It was great to see you, Jonden, and see you at work. Our small group really enjoyed that day, and
the trees you helped us with are doing fine.

Lisa

[bodhidharma]

It sounds to me like you have learnt and grown Lisa. Good for you. I like your tree and little mushy's. It will be a lovely tree in the future.

[LLK]

Thanks bodhi, much appreciated, all the more since I often admire your posts on this forum.

Lisa
---------------------------------
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Pablo Picasso

[MelaQuin]

I have several bonsai sporting toadstools. My question... why can't it happen the day of a show!!! Great proportion and interesting look. Ah well, Murphy's Law prevails...

[tr3nt29]

Cool as Lisa, very cute mushie's. That tree is not bad either! How about some wire and another pic!

In my experience Mel's and Euc's do not resond well to branches being wired, often with the branch dying off as a result. As these species have a very upwards growth patten in nature I try to copy this and use the clip and grow method to try and acheive a lower angle for a desired branch. I would love to here others experience and methods.

[LLK]

Thanks, MelaQuin and tr3nt29 (hope I got that right).
How about posting some pics of your toad stools, MelaQuin? We've got a show going on here, right on this forum.

In my experience Mel's and Euc's do not resond well to branches being wired, often with the branch dying off as a result. As these species have a very upwards growth patten in nature I try to copy this and use the clip and grow method to try and acheive a lower angle for a desired branch. I would love to here others experience and methods.

Pity there have been no replies, it's a darn important question. For my part, I don't have any Eucalypts and the Melaleucas I have are either styled by the clip 'n grow method, or occasionally with guy wires. Where natives are concerned, I have wired bottlebrush and Lilly Pilly, but the others don't really need it, I can get away with the clip 'n grow + guy wire quite well.... in my own opinion, for whatever that's worth.

Lisa

[Pup]

Cool as Lisa, very cute mushie's. That tree is not bad either! How about some wire and another pic!

In my experience Mel's and Euc's do not resond well to branches being wired, often with the branch dying off as a result. As these species have a very upwards growth patten in nature I try to copy this and use the clip and grow method to try and acheive a lower angle for a desired branch. I would love to here others experience and methods.

Just found this post. Very interesting that you have both said that about the wire. What I have observed from really old Melaleucas is in most cases the branches are horizontal with the younger growth growing upward.

Also some of the species do not like to be wired past the horizontal, with some weakening and dying.
Last weekend when Grant was here, we went for a walk in the local park where there are some very old M,preissiana whose branches were horizontal, and the ones that were growing downward were actually dying.
So it happens in nature as well as when we try to do it in Bonsai.

Of the 15 species of Melaleuca I grow I wire all of them. When The braches are fixed I then, use the clip and grow method for refinement. As explained to Grant also when they really start to push new growth. I have to get to the new growth with hedge shears, the M,rhaphiophylla will grow 18cm in one week.
Cheers Pup

[Amanda]

Lisa, lovely Melaleuca. I enjoy the mushrooms. They're strange how fast they can pop up after some unusual weather.

Pup, thank you for sharing that information regarding the wiring.