[lackhand] Juniperus chinensis 'Sea Green'

[lackhand]

The last time I tried anything with junipers was when I was brand new at bonsai, and none of them withstood my brutal treatment. In my defense, two of the three were mallsai, and probably dead before I even bought them. Anyway, figured it was time to try my hand again, so I grabbed this one and a much smaller one that I'll be growing in a large pot for several years.

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• Species name: Juniperus chinensis 'Sea Green'
• Original height of stock: 31 cm
• Where you obtained it from: Lowe's (big box home improvement store)
• Cost of stock: $17.98 USD

I really have no idea what's hidden inside that mass of green foliage. From what I can tell, I think cascade or semi-cascade may be the way to go, but I'll figure that out in April once work starts. Looking forward to this one!

[lackhand]

Time to get to work! As mentioned above, this is my first work on a juniper in a long time. Hopefully I didn't take it too far. My daughter says I did, but she's six so . . .

After sorting through the mass of foliage, here is what I ended up with.

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Everything still needs a detailed wire, but for now I just wanted to pick which branches to use in order to direct the tree's energy, and then get the main bend out of the way. I'm fairly pleased with the result, though I will probably tweak the major bend at the top a little in another week or two. The tree has been growing like crazy as it's spring here, so hopefully that will continue.

[Damian79]

The last time I tried anything with junipers was when I was brand new at bonsai, and none of them withstood my brutal treatment.

I did the same thing mate lol. I have one that still lives.

[lackhand]

So I wanted to pose a question to those who have more experience with junipers. I was tweaking this tree a bit today and it still has way too much foliage on it - goes on for a good 8 more inches or so below the bottom of the previous photo, and each of the branches I have selected are a bit too long at the moment too. I'm not real worried about trunk thickening, but I don't want to set the tree back too far - I have already removed lots of foliage, probably around one third to half. Should I chop it now and start developing branch refinement where I need it, or let it recover for a bit and then chop again? Or maybe just chop the long tail back and leave the rest?

Any help and advice is more than welcome - I'm tough skinned and not experienced with juniper so don't be shy!

Also, here is a quick rough sketch for what I hope the tree will look like in the future. No deadwood is shown but there will probably be some small pieces up at the top, and maybe a shari too but I haven't gotten to that point.

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[kcpoole]

I would cut back all the stuff you do not need now so the recovery can start.
Start you branch work now as well.

Ken

[lackhand]

Thanks for the input Ken, much appreciated. I'll cut a bit more and wire out some branch structure, hopefully sometime today.

[lackhand]

Now that's a little more like it. Now to let it settle in and just grow for a bit.

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The branch coming off the right side is a bit long and scraggly on purpose - I want to thicken it up a bit as it's pretty scrawny at the moment. I'm not sure about the branch coming down from the top section. It seemed like a good way to add some contrast behind the trunkline and jin but now I'm not so sure. Also, this picture makes it pretty clear that one of the two jin near the base needs removed, they kind of make a "V" as they are now. Maybe it's just the angle, but photos are good for seeing such things. Looking at the photo, I need to put some more movement in the trunk too, there is a section that's too straight. But at least it's starting to look like what I had in mind.

[Neli]

In cascade it is preferd the first branch is always a back branch. I would advise research : choosing a front for a cascade.

[lackhand]

If only there were a way to tell if this thing is growing . . . Oh wait, I think I see it now.

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This juni seems VERY happy right now and is pushing new growth pretty much everywhere, so that's a relief. I haven't killed it yet. Some parts are putting out juvenile foliage, but that's not really surprising as much as I cut off. Hopefully the mature foliage will come back in time for the end of the compo.

[lackhand]

This juniper is growing very well. Unfortunately it's growing juvenile foliage. I've been waiting patiently for that to switch back to the mature foliage, but in reality that probably means it won't be looking great before the end of the competition. On the plus side, I removed the wire and it has stayed in place pretty well. It needs wired again, but I'm waiting to get some good copper wire as the aluminum I have is not quite enough to hold it anyway.

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[lackhand]

Not much change on this one. I've done some re-wiring and I'm pleased with where it's headed, but I don't think it will get there in time. I need to thin out the foliage, but it has just started growing mature foliage again, so I don't want to thin it out and stress it all over again so I get more juvenile foliage. I plan on thinning out about 1/4 of the tree every 3 months or so, and it might be looking okay by the end of the comp, but only time will tell.

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I need to start looking for a new pot fairly soon so I can take care of that once it starts to warm up again here.

[lackhand]

I've made some subtle changes to the flow of the cascade, but they're hidden by the mass of foliage. I need to clean it out, but I also need it to grow mature foliage instead of the current juvenile. Soon I will have to make a choice - clean it out and style for the contest, knowing it will likely put out more juvenile foliage, or let it grow it and style later. I think I'll just give it a bit and see how it goes.

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[lackhand]

I've been eyeing this tree a lot lately. I haven't been satisfied with it, but wasn't sure how to fix it. Tonight was the night, and I'm not sure if it was the best plan, but it's done now. I decided the two things that were really bugging me were #1: the size of the tree - while technically okay for the contest, it just feels too big for a shohin; and #2: the cascade was boring, and lacked significant interesting movement. Both of these problems could be solved by either bending the snot out of it, or just cutting it off. I did a little of both.

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There are still two branches on the bent section, but I'm not sure if I even want to keep it at this point (they're covered up with a paper towel in the last photo). It may end up as a jin. It may not even survive, so I'll have to wait and see. Right now it's serving as a bending experiment, and also as extra foliage to hopefully keep what I want from reverting to juvenile foliage.

After the bend, I ended up feeling like I was looking at the back of the tree, so I've now flipped it. The wiring will give some good basic shape, and hopefully set the structure for the tree to grow into. It will need a better, more complete wiring job before the deadline.

I feel like I might still have too much foliage - should I cut it back a bit more to try to bring it in closer to the trunk/pot? Please feel free to comment on that or really any aspect of the tree/work. I feel like I'm headed in the right direction and getting better with junipers, but I've got a lot to learn.

[Watto]

I like the new look. Those long droopy cascades don't do much for me.

[lackhand]

Final update, again with apologies for background, and the lovely pot. In my mind this is not a serious contender anyway, but I think it is worth updating. The main problem is that my plan changed to a much longer term one - I'm working on developing some serious deadwood that will be cool in 10 years or so - but it's not going to be an amazing display tree right now. Ultimately, I think it's what's best for the tree. Without further ado . . .

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Last photo shows what will hopefully develop into some nice shari in the future. Or, depending on how it comes along, that might end up being the tree. Time will tell. I've also learned that this particular variety of juni is not great for bonsai - the foliage is too sparse. I'll use it to grow on for several years and maybe graft shimpaku when it's getting where I want it to be.

I feel like I finally ended up with a good plan for the tree, so I'm happy with it. My goal was mainly to overcome my fear of junipers and I definitely did that. Overall I'm pleased with the progress, and the learning. I've probably done far more to this tree because of the contest pushing me on than I would have otherwise.