Progression of a Casuarina

William--I have 2 casaurina that I got at the Eric Weigert workshop at Bill Valvanis' Shohin syposium this fall. There are two kinds of casaurina(equisetifolia and lepidolpholia) but I have one of each and they have both been under lights since early November. I'm just north of Philly(6A). They have been doing just fine under lights 16hrs a day and the avg temp is about 63. I will say this---they are in kind of a stasis mode. There is not much growth--but there is some. The lepidolphloia seems to be putting on a bit more growth than the equisetifolia.
There is not nearly enough growth to do any work--so my sense is that any real growth and and work will have to be accomplished during the summer here which means it will take much longer to develop the tree than the ones in Florida. I Have the lights (fluorescent) right down about 1 inch over the foliage.

Quick update:



and



dorothy

I very like your bonsai trees.Thank for sharing.
Greenstar!

Very nice progression and Dorothy I like the way you do do the carving. Keep posting its progress.
William, I bought a small Casuarina from Martha Meehan last years and it seems to do well in Winter together with my other tropicals
Xuan

Some people seem to have no worries collecting and transplanting casuarina. Others can't win. I have a theory that it has alot to do with the variety of the species. I have never removed all the leaves before though and I have never lost one.
Love yours Dorothy. Especially the shot on show at the shopping mall.

Very nice Dorothy, I like your concept for the winding shari.




BTW, Australian pine is a great bonsai if you like to work on bonsai, they grow so darn fast, and throw buds everywhere especailly this time of year. One can work on them every day.

Dorothy,
I'm new to the forum and love your trees. You are a talent! Thank you for posting all of the pics and progressions. Not to drag up an pld post, but I loved the Hollywood Juniper posts a while back. Are you posting new pics of the current tree. I have two that I am working on here in California.
Steve

I saw it Dorothy..very nice Casuarina. Just be very very careful with the deadwood on Casuarina, they can hardly last too long...

Hi Robert.

I sent you PM regarding Casuarinas. Might help others if I asked it here too.
Is it not advisable for the specie to be designed with deadwood feature? how long would it last?


regards,
jun

Not at all if you are expecting the jin like on Junipers or pines, because deadwood in Casuarina will rot out very easily even well taken care...even worse in the high humidity climate as you and we have... My Casuarina, the best I had ever had and taken care, only last less than 5 years...

We always avoid any open cuts and heal all the scars. So for Casuarina, we either make a perfect un-defective style or make an extreme design with only thin cambium trunk in literati style (let all the wood rotten out)...
In the case of Dorothy's, if it rotten out one day..she can still re-style it in an extreme literati...so it will still be a nice bonsai.

This is one of my Casuarina I need to transform the style due to the rotting trunk...

Thanks Robert!
I'll consider this in the design of my casuarinas, most have open deadwoods.

Nice tree by the way, I saw this in your "mission of transformation" book that I borrowed from a friend. By the way is the book still available? please PM me on how to avail it.

regards,
jun

Yes, you can order both of my books "Vision of My Soul" and "Mission of Transformation" through www.stonelantern.com

Thanks Robert!

i saw the book. very elegant and informative too. I'll order both books. Kindly sign it for me...I'm your biggest fan. hehehe.

Sorry Dorothy, it so difficult to get hold of Robert...a very busy man.

regards,
jun

Tona wrote:Dorothy,
I'm new to the forum and love your trees. You are a talent! Thank you for posting all of the pics and progressions. Not to drag up an pld post, but I loved the Hollywood Juniper posts a while back. Are you posting new pics of the current tree. I have two that I am working on here in California.
Steve

Hi Tona,

welcome to IBC! This is a good place to be. Here is a pic of the juniper you are talking about, I just took it. Torulosa takes quite some time to develop pads, seems like. I thinned out the tree a few days ago:

Hey Robert,

good to hear from you! I have heard about the deadwood with Cauarinas several times now and am considering less deadwood in general when planning one. The literati you recall is doing fine - for now. However, I never "finished" pulling the bark off around the trunk (twist). Mainly because of what you told me about the deadwood.

Jun, whatever it takes to communicate with Robert! He is a great artist, isn't he..

-dorothy

dorothy7774 wrote:Hey Robert,

good to hear from you! I have heard about the deadwood with Cauarinas several times now and am considering less deadwood in general when planning one. The literati you recall is doing fine - for now. However, I never "finished" pulling the bark off around the trunk (twist). Mainly because of what you told me about the deadwood.

Jun, whatever it takes to communicate with Robert! He is a great artist, isn't he..

-dorothy

...yes Dorothy, He is a great artist. his works are very different from the "rest". Always with movement and the powerful "story" of the tree is always present in his works. In the west John Naka made a famous statement "....try to make your bonsai look like a tree"...I think Robert moved beyond those words.
...and for the artists around here, and the "artists" trying hard to be (including me hehehe), I suggests to try to study his works, you'll probably pick up a lesson or two.

regards,
jun

dorothy7774 wrote:Hey Robert,

good to hear from you! I have heard about the deadwood with Cauarinas several times now and am considering less deadwood in general when planning one. The literati you recall is doing fine - for now. However, I never "finished" pulling the bark off around the trunk (twist). Mainly because of what you told me about the deadwood.

Jun, whatever it takes to communicate with Robert! He is a great artist, isn't he..

-dorothy

Hi Dorothy,
I love your casuarina the way you made it, its true that casuarinas will not tolerate man made sharis and jins but then it will take years before what you fear happens so in the meantime, enjoy your tree the way it is.Next time, you get casuarina materials with natural sharis, all my casuarinas have natural sharis,some were collected 10 years ago and the sharis are as good as when they were collected,

Best regards
ka pabling

Ka Pabling wrote:

dorothy7774 wrote:Hey Robert,

good to hear from you! I have heard about the deadwood with Cauarinas several times now and am considering less deadwood in general when planning one. The literati you recall is doing fine - for now. However, I never "finished" pulling the bark off around the trunk (twist). Mainly because of what you told me about the deadwood.

Jun, whatever it takes to communicate with Robert! He is a great artist, isn't he..

-dorothy

Hi Dorothy,
I love your casuarina the way you made it, its true that casuarinas will not tolerate man made sharis and jins but then it will take years before what you fear happens so in the meantime, enjoy your tree the way it is.Next time, you get casuarina materials with natural sharis, all my casuarinas have natural sharis,some were collected 10 years ago and the sharis are as good as when they were collected,

Best regards
ka pabling

Ka,

I wished I could find Casuarinas with natural shari! Next time we have a storm, I will leave all my Casuarina material outside, in the middle of the yard, instead of protecting them from the elements. Not that I am daring a future storm, but somehow I'd like to take advantage of a quick nature fix..

-dorothy

jun wrote:..

...and for the artists around here, and the "artists" trying hard to be (including me hehehe), I suggests to try to study his works, you'll probably pick up a lesson or two.

regards,
jun

Or three..

-dorothy

Hi Dorothy

To wait for storms to do the shari for you? why not, it will be done in 10 years or so.
Most of the casuarina bonsai materials we have here have sharis . These trees were probably cut by chainsaws,burned by kaingeros,struck by lightning etc etc and they survived to become stunning, and exotic bonsais. Those that did not encounter these calamities grew into large, straight healthy trees.

I am sure you can also find some somedays, Its part of our bonsai journey.

Best regards,

ka pabling

ps, dont buy a chainsaw

Hey Dorothy,

Any more updates on this fantastic tree?

Have a great week!!!
Sam

Sam Ogranaja wrote:Hey Dorothy,

Any more updates on this fantastic tree?

Have a great week!!!
Sam

Hi Sam, I can tell you like the tree..It's doing great. I trimmed it back hard last month, the apex was getting too strong. It's getting bushy again.

dorothy7774 wrote:

Sam Ogranaja wrote:Hey Dorothy,

Any more updates on this fantastic tree?

Have a great week!!!
Sam

Hi Sam, I can tell you like the tree..It's doing great. I trimmed it back hard last month, the apex was getting too strong. It's getting bushy again.

Girl, where you been??

Glad to see you, and this great tree, back again. Thanks for the ficus thread too!

R

Russell Coker wrote:..

Girl, where you been??

Glad to see you, and this great tree, back again. Thanks for the ficus thread too!

R

Thanks. I am spending too much time on facebook, I guess..

-Dorothy

Dorothy
Would you talk about how you create and maintain your foliage pads. Thanks.