Drooping She-oak (Allocasuarina verticillata)

Hi everyone,
I thought you might be interested in seeing this plant. This was a chance seedling which came up in this plant pot about 18 months ago.
I have always been interested in trying out bonsai techniques on this plant as it has a very unusual growth habit. The leaves are reduced to microscopic scales circling the fine hair like branches. I am not going to try to dwarf it too far - the plant is about 24 inches tall at present, and I am laying the foundations for the main crown branches. This is the second branch in training. I plan to bend each one upwards, one at a time, until I have created a framework which will resemble the adult tree. Other than that all I am doing at present is going around the tree about once a month or so, trimming off the tips of the branches to encourage bushiness.

Here is an update:

The best laid plans.. The weather has been very unkind to my poor tree! In the late spring we had a few days of very hot weather - drying winds, dry air and temps in the 40C/100F range. As you can see the tree DID NOT LIKE IT! At first I was afraid it might die but it has started to green up again in the middle. I will be cutting off all the dead stems soon but I wanted to show you just how resilient these plants can be. After all, this is the way "wild bonsai" occur in nature - the trees grow in harsh unproductive places, taking on all the worst of weather, and yet they survive, and in the end become something beautiful.

Because of the type of tree this is, this will be a long term project. I fully expect it will be at least 5 or 6 years before It truly starts to even resemble a mature tree of its species, but I will keep you posted with updates two or three times a year.

Ciao, Kaelkitty.

Stick that bad boy in the ground so it can fatten up quicker. ;-)

Annual Update, LOL!

We had another rough summer this year - temperatures peaked at 47C/117F! That day was our hottest single day in about 60 years, even though summer days around the 40C mark are not unusual in any summer. The tree dropped quite a few needles and experienced some die back of established branches, but nothing as bad as the year before, even though the weather was actually worse. Here is a photo showing an overview of the tree taken about a week ago.

...And here is a close up of the foot of the tree. I am really pleased about this development as it signals the "seedling" phase of growth is coming to an end - remember that this tree is only about three years old. My next task will be to begin the long series of repottings which will be required to reduce the root mass of the tree into something appropriate for the final size and shape I am working towards. I plan to repot the tree for the very first time in the spring, probably in August or September, depending on the weather. I am aiming for a tree that reproduces the effect of an adult tree of its species as closely as I can manage - you will appreciate that this is at least a 20 year project. I am aiming for a final tree size around a metre (3ft), and will probably look for a suitable pot in an low oval or rectangular shape.

Here also are a couple of links which you might find interesting.

A bit more about the tree species: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59542/
A few more photos of the tree in nature: http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/subthumb.cfm?sub=13225&start=1
An interesting place that the tree can be found in the wild: http://www.apstas.com/Deal_Island_Flora.html

TTFN, KK.