AusBonsai

This is one of my very first pieces of material I started experimenting with as a newbie back in 2019. Bought from a garden nursery in a neglected corner, it didn't have any sort of label. I believe it's a Chinese Juniper of some sort. It doesn't have the best foliage it's a bit loose and floppy, but I have found it does dense up and get tighter with bonsai techniques. All part of the individual character of the tree to me.

It started out very leggy and sparse with a lot of juvenile growth. Over the years it has now started to become a slender slanting tree.

Hopefully you enjoy the photo journey. Many mistakes and learning are tied up in this tree. It's not the best piece of material going but it's a special one personally.
March 2019 from the nursery
March 2019 my first attempt at styling with no idea what I was doing
April 2021
Mid 2021 my first attempt splitting a branch and heavy bending. (Just went for it no raffia or anything)
Late 2021 reo bar removed trying to work out where to go next.
April 2022 first styling to current direction as a slanting tree. With the guidance of Tony Bebb the first time he visited little old Albany.
Winter 2023 after some free growth
Late winter 2023 into first bonsai pot and a pumice/scoria/pine bark mix. Something I had sitting around from Bad Swan Ceramics. There was always a natural shari in the trunk which I have opened up some more.
As is currently spring 2023. Unfortunately the stretching branch to the right balancing the design started browning off for some reason so I decided to just jin it.
There are many other young branches there I will grow out to replace it. Minor setback, what else can you do.

Well done. What a great progression
Cheers RodM

Just worked on this one again. A prune and removal of all the old wire + a re-wire. Cut a fair bit off, pulling things back towards being in proportion to the trunk. The top is as high as I want it now so starting to round off and build an apex. Haven't bothered to wire all the small floppy foliage at this stage, I will wait for what backbudding I get.

I've just purchased a new bonsai pot for this aswell. It's a tokoname brown clay drum pot that is slightly smaller and shallower than the current one. I think it will be better suited. Will repot later in the year.

I thought I had taken a photo before doing the work but turns out I forgot.

Repotted today into smaller new tokoname drum pot. Looks a lot better now
Roots were looking really good too.

Such a great result in a relatively short amount of time. Very nice

The foilage sparsness reminds me of the Californian Junipers you see online.

Simon

The first pic has that droopy lusitanica type look going on, not sure what colour the bark is though (colour blind). Either way the tree is starting to gain some direction.

Pruned and wired. Foliage is getting better.

That's starting to look alright, i like that you've kept it realistic.

Thank you. A great progression. Tree looks great. Can I ask how tall the tree is now? You mentioned it was as tall as you wanted it to be.


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AndreasM wrote: ↑December 6th, 2024, 9:21 pm Thank you. A great progression. Tree looks great. Can I ask how tall the tree is now? You mentioned it was as tall as you wanted it to be.


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From top of pot to apex it is 350mm tall and around 310mm foliage width.

Patmet wrote: ↑December 7th, 2024, 3:49 pm
From top of pot to apex it is 350mm tall and around 310mm foliage width.

Thank you - much appreciated. I like the proportions on the tree with the pot.

Tony Bebb was back in my neck of the woods for his yearly visit and this was one of the trees we worked on that got a bit of a transformation.

He thought the low branch was getting a bit heavy for the very thin slender trunk and suggested jinning it + another branch cutting across on the right side. I agreed and we did it. I like the outcome I think the tree's proportions are better now and it has the appearance of a larger tree.

After doing this the drum pot was now a bit heavy for the lighter feel of the tree. I found a suitable chinese pot my mate had and swapped with him one of my pots that was good for one of his trees. It looks better but doesn't counter balance very strongly with the new pot being so light and the lean so has to always be tied down when out on the benches. Balances fine for being on display inside though.
After changes in the old pot
New pot

Love seeing this progression, what a difference from 2019 to now. I agree the new post looks just great.