AusBonsai

Hi all. I picked this up from the green shed for $10.

Young and not a thick trunk but I would love to try and style this into a small tree now.

There is what I would describe as three main branches from the base.

Any ideas or starting thoughts on what might be appropriate?

I love this native and the really small leaves they are really impressive looking. The bases of the thicker branches don’t look that easy to bend but new growth is very flexible.

Cheers!

I touch a lepto and they die. I take one look at a lepto and they die. In fact, I am afraid I may have just killed yours. Others seem to have a golden touch. Good luck!

Aphrodite is a cultivar of L. scoparium which can get pretty touchy about having its roots trimmed. Be very conservative with the roots, with the branches I'm pretty sure you can cut back hard.

Thanks guys.

I did give the roots a “light” prune when I re potted but I did possibly take off a little much if they are sensitive.

All the more reason to have a go and chopping this back now and if it makes it then it makes it!

Just no idea what it could look like. I’ll just cut.

MJL - haha! The curse might be on this plant

I grow a few Aphrodite. I believe it is a L. spectabilis selection. I can't find anything to indicate it has L. scoparium in its lineage but if was an accidental seedling from a batch at Bywong nursery so could well have some scoparium in it. They seem to be pretty resilient so you can do whatever you like with them. I haven't had any problems with root pruning.

The 3 main branches growing from the same spot will be trouble on 2 counts.
1. Multiple branches close together tend to make the area thicken faster than the rest of the trunk. You will almost certainly end up with a thickened lump -reverse taper- there if you leave all 3.
2. Aesthetically more branches from one spot confuses the eyes and brain. The flow of the design is interrupted and our subconscious brain does not like that. In other words it is hard to make such a fork look good.

I'd recommend getting rid of one of those. Which one depends on the bends in the others nearby but I'd be inclined to take out the middle one based on the photos to open up the fork a bit.
Treat one of the remaining ones as the trunk and the other as a first branch. the branch needs to be a bit shorter than the trunk so prune that one.
Some bends in the trunks would probably add interest to the shape so wire and bend whatever you can move.

The tree is so young that there's no right answer to styling it. Just do whatever looks OK for now.

Thanks Neil. I thought about chopping the middle trunk before I saw your post.

Prior to reading this I did the attached pics. Chopped back a bit, wired the Main trucks and then two little branches with some very thing wire.

It’s a start and I’m happy for now. I will have another look tomorrow and possibly take out the middle trunk.

It’s a small start for the tree.what do we think?!

Middle trunk removed and some more small wire applied.

how is this looking nearly a year on ?