Peppermint Gum
Eucalyptus nicholii
Found at south Canberra Dump in the Revolve section in the summer of 1995. It was in very little soil and full of disease. ( mealy bug and sooty mildew ). Only being new to Bonsai, I thought that if this plant could survive these conditions it had potential, and being a native it was my opportunity to experiment with the horticulture and structure.
Over the following months I removed the pests and when it showed signs of new growth I re-potted, cut back the old wood and trained a new leader.
In 1999 I potted it into a Bonsai pot ( oval blue ceramic ). Then in 2001 I drilled a hole from where the new leader was formed, to the base, where I opened up another hole making it hollow. As seen in the only early photo I could find. At (
http://asgap.org.au/bonsai/apabN_Gallery_2a.pdf )
In late October 2003 I repotted the Nicholii into a oval unglazed pot and in December of the same year I removed some of the ruff bark to reveal a dead section of the trunk. I then cut this piece out creating another hole in the trunk as seen in the 2003 attached photo.
To make it a fully Australian work of art I repotted the tree into a “ Pat Kennedy” pot in October 2005 as seen on the ANBG web site. It was entered into the BCI competition in 2006 and received an Honourable mention. The following photos are a pictorial history of the development of this tree. The last photo is the most recent ( today ) and shows some changes due to hail damage.