Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

First published 29th April 2026

A few days ago under this post, reader Josh (thank you Josh!) had asked as to an Air-Pot and trunk-thickening. The timing was incredible, as just hours prior to his comment (which I didn’t see until two days later because of the very poor commenting system this blog has) I had pulled out a tree to evaluate for a progress report, which would answer his question pretty well. This is both that progress report, and an answer to his question!

This post is a progress report on the bottlebrush (Melaleuca sp.) in this post.

The story began back in December 2024 when, inspired by this local tree:


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

I dug up this tree:


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

to pot into a 4.1 L Air-Pot small seed tray to develop the roots. (Not to be confused with the 4.1 L Air-Pot bonsai training pot, which has open cones along the top as tie-down points.)

Five months later (April 2025) I then potted it up into a 16 L bonsai training pot, the largest available, and manipulated it thus:


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

It remained this way untouched until 21st April 2026. I actually pulled it out only because of a few other things I was doing in its vicinity, and glad I did, because the trunk had grown, um, noticeably! The trunk had grown around all three places the baling twine had been. It was fun (not) removing that twine — serves me right.

This spot is the uppermost one on the trunk in the above photo, the one the weed mat pins held in place:


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

This spot is the lower-down one, where bent into an S-shape:


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

Why the grafting tape? Well, after removing all the twine and anchor points, the tree did a remarkable job fully supporting itself in its new shape, but (can you guess?!) was not super structurally sound at that lower point which was taking all the weight. I’m one of those types that just has to fiddle, and in attempting to do exactly that (!), caused that point to snap. Just on the outer side, but it was still very damaging. Hence the grafting tape and two stakes to keep that part rigid:


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

The tree now looks like this:


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

That break has stressed it and all leaves above that point are definitely dying. The tree has grown other branches since last year that I can and will play with (and with <gasp> wire!), so I’m not as upset as I might have been. But I am leaving everything as is, out of sheer curiousity, to see if the break heals and if the tree grows new leaves above it.

Here is the trunk now in April 2026 where pinned to the surface:


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

I’m sorry Josh, that this is the best (only) photo I could find from last year April 2025 showing the same part of the trunk — I’ll leave the decision with you as to whether it has thickened in this time:


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

I had pinned this trunk down with the hope it would root in place much as the inspiration tree had, and it did not disappoint!


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

In fact, it can’t help itself!


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

I am super-impressed with this Aussie native! Its long leaves and the fact it’s everywhere here makes me think it may be Melaleuca viminalis (formerly Callistemon viminalis), the weeping bottlebrush, but that’s only tentative for now. It definitely isn’t the same species as the local inspiration tree.