Bonsai with Australian Natives

[DrDuncs]

I found this interesting page on the Australian National Botanic Gardens website and thought I'd share with you other Bonsai enthusiasts out there.

http://www.anbg.gov.au/bonsai/index.html

Don't know if they are all natives though?

[taffyman]

That's a very interesting link Dr Duncs.

I do like what he's achieved - in particular with Eucalypts.

Pretty sure they are all natives, but I do question one particular description. It's on the 2007 page:

Quote:
Ficus platypoda (syn. Ficus euginoides)
Small-leafed Morton Bay Fig

Ficus Platypoda is commonly called the Desert or Rock Fig and is native to central and northern Australia.
Ficus Eugenoides is commonly called the Queensland Small Leaf Fig and is native to QLD and northern NSW.
Neither are known as Small Leafed Morton Bay. That one would be a Ficus Macrophylla variation.

[mangogirl]

Thanks for the delicious website DrDuncs! I drooled for ages..... I am a beginner in Bonsai, and have had little success with Aussie natives, particularly kunzea. They look so bushy and full of potential when I choose them at the local Bunnings, but once pruned and wired they seem to go downhill and die. I have never even got them to the stage of transplanting to a bonsai pot. So it was encouraging to see it can be done successfully. ( Any tips or reasons for failure would be appreciated. I do fine with conifers and box!)

[karyn]

I think Kunzea prefer acid...what pH soil are you using?

[mangogirl]

I never got as far as repotting them, Karyn. They were still in the soil they came in from the nursery and I had begun training and wiring them. Maybe I overpruned them? Or maybe I was just unlucky and they got dieback. (I was using my garden pruners and didn't sterilize them first) My 11 yr old grandson has shown a lot of interest in bonsai and I have just bought him a very bushy english box, about 30cm high, as a starter. (It's one of his Xmas presents.) We are going to work on it together so I hope I don't do the wrong thing and kill it! Is it correct to prune and wire then leave it in the same pot to grow on, or should I repot larger, in special bonsai mix? Should I limit the pruning at this stage? Your advice would be appreciated - this Nanna's credibility is at stake!