Callistemon 'waterswept' style

[shibui]

This is another excerpt from my talk at the Natives Bonsai show at Canberra..

I found river bottlebrush growing along the Ovens river while I was panning for gold. The naturally dwarfed plants that grew on the rock bars started me thinking about creating my own bonsai along similar lines.
The following is an outline of the thought process that led to my tree..

River bottlebrush - Callistemon paludosus (I think) grows along rivers and streams. On the banks it grows into an open upright tree with slightly weeping branchlets. It produces pale pink brush flowers in spring.

Callistemon Myrtleford 0.JPG

However, where there are exposed rocks in the river, seeds germinate and some plants grow in the small soil pockets and cracks.

Callistemon myrtleford 01.JPG

Callistemon myrtleford 1.JPG

These rivers frequently flood as the snow on nearby mountains melts each spring. Trees growing on these rocks are subjected to regular battering by water and debris. As a result nearly all growth points downstream.

Callistemon myrtleford 3.JPG

Callistemon myrtleford 5.JPG

Note that it has been some time since a decent flood and the tree has sent up a vertical shoot.

During floods these trees are battered by floating debris so dead wood is a regular feature on these trees

Callistemon myrtleford deadwood.JPG

The roots are often exposed, running over the rock seeking cracks and further soil pockets for anchorage and nutrients.

Callistemon myrtleford root detail.JPG

With all this in mind I got hold of a tube sized seedling from the landcare nursery and selected a rock. The seedling was bare rooted and the roots arranged on the rock. The unit was allowed to grow freely in polystyrene boxes for a few years with only basic shaping to establish the root/rock unit, then pruned to establish the final shape and pinched to promote density. It was finally potted into a bonsai pot about 5 years ago.

Callistemon- root over rock 2007 sm.JPG

One problem is that with regular pinching the tree continues to gain density to the point where it no longer reminds me of the wild trees which are sparse and flowing. Every few years I need to thin out branches and remove entire sections. Many of these are converted to additional deadwood to emphasise the harsh conditions in the river.

I am still on the lookout for a better pot to suit this Australian tree (any suggestions gladly accepted) but otherwise I am happy that I have captured the spirit of these waterswept Ovens river bottlebrushes.
I'm calling the style waterswept rather than the traditional windswept to emphasise that this is an Australian tree as a bonsai and to recall its origins.

[Mitchell]

Bravo!! That is fantastic!
Me thinks you may have found a significant way, to identify certain Australian bonsai around the world.... 'waterswept' indeed, genious!
I would love to hear more Australian styles, we should really take this and run with it.

Just off the top of my head, I'm seeing half burnt black euc's / banks as another theme we could run with.... The Euc's would look awesome after a good blow torching. Imagine the new green shoots coming out of the black burnt wood. The colour contrast would be phenominal on a bonsai.....

[kcpoole]

Beautiful image there

Just like many trees I have seen in rivers around Bathurst / Oberon / Hill End

Ken

[Jamie]

i have come back a couple of times to look at this tree, i like it a lot, it has a lot of different aspects not only being smashed over by water, it also has a keay feature of the tree clinging to the rock like it is struggling to hold position without beeing swept away but the composition looks sturdy being on a rock aswell.


very nice indeed!

[Mitchell]

Thought you might like to know, even though it is insignificant, I am currently training a Melaleuca armillaris (not quite sure on ID) collected from a river bed. It was already growing down stream and showed signs of natural jins formed from debree in the water flow.


Have any more unique styles which may inspire us?

[dennismc]

Shibui

Love this tree but the pot is badly hindering it. I would suggest considering a slab of rock (preferably sandstone that also looks as if it has been water worn) rather than a pot.

I am impressed that you have attempted to keep this in an Oz style, something that I have been advocating to students for several years.

regards
Dennis Mc

[bodhidharma]

Shibui

Love this tree but the pot is badly hindering it. I would suggest considering a slab of rock (preferably sandstone that also looks as if it has been water worn) rather than a pot.

I am impressed that you have attempted to keep this in an Oz style, something that I have been advocating to students for several years.

regards
Dennis Mc

Yes, me to Shibui. I think it would look great on a slab

[alpineart]

Hi Shibui , looking good with the bottlebrush , AUSSIE MADE for sure .Cheers Alpine

[anttal63]

Great conception and following through. Shibui you are truly an innovater. I too would love to see a more rustic potting. Yet for me there is still an element missing here. The roots growing down stream too. For they are pushed and shoved in that direction as well as act like a counter lever. So as to not dislodge itself away. These photos clearly show this behaviour.

[Jester]

I love it!!! I'm not a Callistemon fan but you may just have converted me!!!. I do agree with Dennis though, a slab would make it almost perfect!! Just my 10 cents worth

John

[LLK]

One problem is that with regular pinching the tree continues to gain density to the point where it no longer reminds me of the wild trees which are sparse and flowing. Every few years I need to thin out branches and remove entire sections. Many of these are converted to additional deadwood to emphasise the harsh conditions in the river.

It's a great tree, but why not let the branches grow longer? It could look even more like the waterswept trees in your photos, and if it was planted on a slab or in a very shallow, long ceramic pot (they do exist!), that would be perfect.
....At least in my humble opinion.

Lisa

[Kunzea]

hi Shibui
Great 'water swept' tree. Well done.
I like the roots as they are. If they curved down stream too, it would be hard to imagine how the tree was hanging on.

Interesting comments about the branches. Some of the same issues for 'wind swept' apply here too. We talk of 'wind swept' and 'wind blown'. The former has the branches bending downwind, even when the wind isn't blowing - ie the force of the wind at the right time either prunes or bends the limbs so that they become fixed in that down wind position. In 'wind blown' the idea seems to be that you are capturing and freezing a moment in time when the wind bends the limbs in a gust. The bonsai is then like a living, high-speed photograph where the motion is stopped - ie the limbs are frozen in a wind tossed position. Great opportunity for some wild movement!

With 'water swept', we thus might think of the tree as you find it when there is no water, but the traces of its force are left behind in some of the trees structures, but not all - the smaller branches may thus be growing normally upright. If it were 'water flowed(!)', then the branches might be stopped in motion as they bent under the force of the moving water.

In either case, the roots are pretty much fixed and serve to give the tree strength enough to resist being carried away by the flood. If the force of the flood is getting severe, the roots might be tipped over, but with enough still holding on to keep it in place. Thus we might have a more Chinese aesthetic for exposed roots than is usual in much Japanese styling.

I don't like restyling other people's trees, but one feeling I have each time I see this tree, is that it jars me some how. Maybe that is OK. Perhaps it is because of the tension between the 'strong movement' elements and the 'stable' non-movement elements. Maybe my mind would like to see this tension lessened with one or other story predominting more. Maybe if the right hand most, and most upright branch were shortened or removed, the 'flow' character would dominate (see image below). I've played with the image a bit to see if I could work out what was causing these feelings. As I reduced the foliage mass of the crown, my eyes focussed more on the lines of the branches, which is where most of the story of waterswept comes from. I realised that it was the visual strength of the crown that overpowered my desire to see the 'windswept' and it just didn't happen with enough authenticity to for me to believe it. Just some feelings I've had.


Cheers
K

[anttal63]

hi Shibui
Great 'water swept' tree. Well done.
I like the roots as they are. If they curved down stream too, it would be hard to imagine how the tree was hanging on.
Cheers
K

Must be getting blind at 47,i'm sure thats what they're doing in pics 3,6&7

[Kunzea]

No worries Anttal! It won't be for another decade before you go blind!

Seriously, I see what you are seeing in those images. It was what I saw in my mind from your words that stimulated the comment.

Yes, some of the roots may well be 'pushed and shoved in that direction'. What I see in the images is mostly roots on the downstream side that have been exposed by erosion, rather than being part of the pushing and shoving. It is a bit like the 'cascade' and 'slanting' tree stituations. Visually, one usually aims to show that the tree is stable, despite its strong lean, by having roots or good references to roots on the 'up hill' side of the leaning tree to show that the tree is being supported. You can have a tree that is visually just balanced in what looks like a precarious situation of being about to slip into oblivion, and that could be dramatic if done well.

The shibui's images show a variety of situations. In 3 the tree looks most precarious and about to slip away in the next major flood - upstream roots are not very evident. In 5, especially, and also in 6, there are clear up-stream roots of significance that visually look like they are holding the tree in place.

K

[Mitchell]

I have a few 'water swept' native stock trees training atm. Most collected from riverbeds. Notice the larger lower branch, that was snapped off by recent floods. There is also natural scarring on the bark from debree.