AusBonsai

Late last year I bought a few callistemon from Virginia nursery in SA. I was looking for some natives to play around with.

This Callistemon little john was in a 20cm pot and quite root bound. It was the pick of the bunch as it had a nice elegant trunk with a little taper. I could see its potential.

It was purchased in October 2024, and then potted up in its 20cm pot in pumice mix.

It grew so fast over summer and had plenty of water and fertiliser. I decided to repot it and wire it in this Peter Bacos pot.

Unfortunately I haven't got any photos of the past 8 months but this is how it looks now.

It still has a way to go, but I think in 3-5 years it'll be a cracker of a tree.

Wow, that's looking great already! Callistemon Little John is such a solid choice — love the trunk movement and how well it's responded to the pumice mix. Can definitely see the future potential in that tree. Looking forward to seeing how it develops over the next few seasons!

That really doesn't look like Callistemon little john to me.
I've grown many of them before, and they have a way more compact growth with much shorter internodes than that.
I've not grown a lot of callistemon, but I don't think thats little john.

Callistemon is a species you can happily get away with placing early into a bonsai pot. They thicken very quickly and are very hardy.
Enjoy

Rory wrote: ↑June 12th, 2025, 7:21 pm That really doesn't look like Callistemon little john to me.
I've grown many of them before, and they have a way more compact growth with much shorter internodes than that.
I've not grown a lot of callistemon, but I don't think thats little john.

Callistemon is a species you can happily get away with placing early into a bonsai pot. They thicken very quickly and are very hardy.
Enjoy

It was labelled as little john, and there were quite a few. I bought 3 or 4 from memory. I'm not phased if its not, just happy to play around with somee natives.