AusBonsai

display tree at a club meeting last night is by john macky.

Wow! He has achieved excellent needle reduction with this species. Another fine Australian tree.

Jon

Great movement, nice flare at the base and good taper. Thanks again Antonio for posting and please thank John for allowing us to see his beautiful tree.

Jon Chown wrote:Another fine Australian tree.

Actually Jon, the Radiata pine is a native of North America, growing naturally in Southern California and two small islands off the coast of Mexico. The species was introduced to Australia in the early 1850s, possibly via gold miners coming from the Californian gold rushes to the Australian goldfields. The tree was grown in the Sydney Botanic Gardens as early as 1857.

I have looked into this because I have found some growing on my remote property and wondered where they came from. The first settlers around my bush retreat were from the gold rush in the 1850's.

There are more than 740,000 ha of plantations in Australia and around 251,500 ha in NSW alone - 64,500 ha (25 per cent) are private plantations and 187,000 ha (75 per cent) are State-owned plantations. Not to mention all the ones that are now growing wild in our bush and on the sides of our roads.

Facts taken from: History of Forestry in New South Wales 1788 to 1988. D. Grant, Sydney

Regards,
Steven

I have often thought of try a Radiata but never expected to see one this nice.

Antonio do you knwo the history of this one?

Ken

ken i am not sure on its history but knowing these guys it was collected at some stage. it was recently in the hiro saito workshops. there is much talk about radiata's here in melbourne lately. one guy steve who i respect as a pine authority, said recently "they pop like there's no tommorrow, the needles reduce easier than black pines and if the japanese had them they would use them. i personally am growing some from seed but next winter will go and collect some rippa's i have found.

Steven said
Actually Jon, the Radiata pine is a native of North America

Thank you for the history Steven, I did not know that. What I realy meant and should have said was 'Another great tree in Australia' . There are so many excellent Bonsai in Australia that just don't get seen in one place. I'm sure that if a Photo Library was provided and only trees of note (Like the standard of this one) selected we could encourage more enthusiasts with the inspiration that they would provide.

Jon

As well as being fast growers, Radiatas are supposed to bud back on old wood.
Penny.

Jon Chown wrote: What I realy meant and should have said was 'Another great tree in Australia' . There are so many excellent Bonsai in Australia that just don't get seen in one place. I'm sure that if a Photo Library was provided and only trees of note (Like the standard of this one) selected we could encourage more enthusiasts with the inspiration that they would provide.Jon

jon dont sweat this is just a small tasting of whats to come

anttal63 wrote:display tree at a club meeting last night is by john macky.

Thats a rippa Ant, whats the dimensions on this one (roughly).
Thanks for posting it.
Peter

PeterW wrote:

anttal63 wrote:display tree at a club meeting last night is by john macky.

Thats a rippa Ant, whats the dimensions on this one (roughly).
Thanks for posting it.
Peter

peter this baby's about 20" tall and the base is about 5" wide. thanks for the feed back all of you, i am pleased you have enjoyed.