Eucalyptus Scoparia: Mallee-Style Clump

FlyBri

Gday folks!

I had a couple of minutes up my sleeve, so I thought I'd post some pics of a recent work-in-progress: Eucalyptus scoparia (Wallangara White Gum) grown in a Mallee-style clump. (For further info, check out this article by Dr Roger Hnatiuk, leader of the Australian Plants As Bonsai Study Group.)

This planting began its life about 6 months ago, when I came across 5 sickly E. scoparia seedlings at a local nursery. Having read Dr Hnatiuk's article in the APAB newsletter, I was inspired to have a go at the Mallee form, but was troubled as to how I would permanently affix the seedlings to one another. I finally decided to make up a small cylinder from galvanized wire mesh, and gently attached the seedlings below soil level using plastic cable ties. This process was 80% successful - I lost the most sickly of the group some months back, but have subsequently replaced it with a more vigorous specimen (centre trunk).

For some months, the planting just sat there looking ugly: 5 straight, spindly sticks poking out of the soil at odd angles. Recent experiment with wiring young Euc growth got me thinking it was time to start styling my Mallee.

Pics in order:

[1] The group as it stands now. Approx 65cm high x ~90cm wide. In photographic form, I can see a few tweaks are necessary: trunks 2 and 4 (as read from the left) could do with a more upright orientation for starters.

[2] A plan view of the planting - not quite as flat as it looks in the profile shot. Can you smell the Dynamic Lifter?

[3] A detail of the trunks. I have used common jute twine in the place of raffia, for no other reason than I happened to have a roll at hand. Believe it or not, it does help reduce wire-scarring, as well as lending support to the bark in places of extreme bending.

Comments, insults and general banter always appreciated.

Thanks.

Fly.

Attached Images

	Euc_Scoparia_Mallee_01.jpg (71.1 KB, 53 views)
	Euc_Scoparia_Mallee_02.jpg (71.0 KB, 33 views)
	Euc_Scoparia_Mallee_03.jpg (71.7 KB, 32 views)

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BunjinEnt

Cool. A new style to mess with!

Judging strickly from what i saw on the link you posted, seems the base of the clump is relatively tighter than what you have here. Is that part of the progression of the styling as the tree(s) grow out?

-Wm

anttal63

well done fly i look forward too seeing it.

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Antonio . . .
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FlyBri

Gday Wm and Antonio!

In retrospect, I could have placed the trunks much closer together, or even bound them directly to each other, but the effect I was wishing to achieve - whether I knew it at the time or not - was that of the 'Mallee ring' that Dr Hnatiuk mentions at the end of his article. While I have seen numerous Eucs with multiple trunks which emerge from a single point at the soil's surface, I have a general aesthetic aversion to recreating this natural occurrence: please excuse me while I go off on a design-based tangent...

Refer to the attached diagrams: in each case, the silhouettes are presented 'as is' (on the left), and with the 5 trunks brought much closer together (on the right). In the 2nd diagram, I have removed some of the virtual soil, as is likely to happen sometime down the track with this planting.


Note the way in which the left-hand images appear much better 'grounded', and present the viewer with some sense of visual depth. The right-hand images, by virtue of the single point of trunk emergence/convergence (SPOTEC?), present as less stable. Furthermore, in conjunction with the line of the soil, this SPOTEC creates a visual node, from which the eye has difficulty escaping. (I believe this problem to be compunded in the 2nd image where the soil-line is angled: the end result holds about as much interest and flow as an oversized asterisk.)

Sorry for all the jargon and made up acronyms, but it's still very early DownUnda, and I think I need another coffee...

Thanks.

Fly.

PS: Viewing this planting in silhouette merely serves to reiterate the statement in my original post that I need to rearrange the trunks in relation to each other, but that's another post entirely...

Attached Images

	Mallee_Musings_05.jpg (29.8 KB, 5 views)
	Mallee_Musings_06.jpg (32.1 KB, 7 views)

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