Been working on this tree for the past two ish years. Finally starting to come into my vision. I think the end of this year will end with a nice overall structure for this tree.
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Love the new angle 
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looking good - haven’t seen too many bottlebrush - i’ve got 1 small one in a prebonsai stage trying to develop trunk and roots; weeping is a great idea … not sure which way to go with mine since natural form is a shrub
They are everywhere here in landscapes in South Florida.
The large flowers always cause them to display in a Weeping fashion naturally so it was a no thinker for me. Funny how environment can so easily influence decisions.
This is really looking awesome - I especially like the decision to keep the large jin on the right. Any consideration given to having an inner, or back, branch come through that opening at some point? It could add some dimension.
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Not sure exactly how I plan to use that area but that is definitely an option
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I’m doing a postmortem on my bottle brush that didn’t survive this year. I missed the window this spring and the buds started to open. I went ahead and potted it up from nursery pot into a bonsai pot anyway since I didn’t want to wait another year. I just ended up doing a dance between watering to keep the new growth from shriveling up and trying not to over water. Ultimately I lost the battle and the tree suffered until it died. 
I’m wondering what the proper timing is for repotting bottle brush. The buds opened so early that I’m wondering if I should have repotted it last fall instead.
I repotted this tree at the end of March 2019 and it never really skipped a beat. I’m in zone 10b so it was probably pretty warm at that time. I know that they can be pretty fickle but this one is really thriving.
Looked at my pics and it was actually potted on February 9th. It was a very mild winter here, so I guess it just woke up really early.
What zone are you in? Could have been winter damage. I know you said mild but that’s relative because I get no winter haha.
8b. I have another nursery bottle brush that I acquired this year Now I’m a bit nervous about it.
Callistemons (what we colloquially call Bottle Brush) are native here in Australia. Most people tend to repot them when it is warm, so in our late spring and even into early summer but autumn can also be fine. It is important to water well and then let them grow, fertilising them a few weeks after repotting. We use high nitrogen and low phosphorous fertilisers for all our natives.
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This confirms my theory. After thinking about (a lot lol) I figured as a Mediterranean species I should have treated it more like a tropical and repotted it closer to summer.
hi bonsai bently brenda from south australia been folowing bottle brush blogs i have several bb i repot late spring into summer then put under 30 percent shadcloth have just watched someone called sam doecke aussie bonsai bloke find him on you tube very differant to mirai most of his trees grow very well hop you enjoy aussie sence of fun
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