Spartan Juniper - Personal Challenge
Posted: December 2nd, 2023, 4:09 pm
I have this Spartan Juniper - (Juniper Chinensis 'Spartan') I bought from a nursery about 5 years ago. This was one of my first lot of plants I started messing around with as I caught the bonsai bug.
Not knowing anything about this cultivar, I attempted to create a formal upright tree. I wired all the branches down and was pretty chuffed with the result. Once the wire started to bite I took it off and those branches grew straight back up with a ferocity.
I then started to read online about the Spartan cultivar and peoples experience trying to make bonsai out of it. Long story short, I pretty much gave up on this and it went to the sidelines with nothing being done to it except keep it alive until recently. I almost got rid of it but I've now decided to have some fun with it and challenge myself to see what I can do with it just for the sake of trying.
It got repotted and well fertilised and is now back in good health. I am still thinking of going for a formal upright with the straight trunk, but I definitely won't be wiring any branches down as I want to work with the growth habit now. We'll see what happens.
My first attempt at styling this. March 2019.
As it is today.
The other side
Close up
Not knowing anything about this cultivar, I attempted to create a formal upright tree. I wired all the branches down and was pretty chuffed with the result. Once the wire started to bite I took it off and those branches grew straight back up with a ferocity.
I then started to read online about the Spartan cultivar and peoples experience trying to make bonsai out of it. Long story short, I pretty much gave up on this and it went to the sidelines with nothing being done to it except keep it alive until recently. I almost got rid of it but I've now decided to have some fun with it and challenge myself to see what I can do with it just for the sake of trying.
It got repotted and well fertilised and is now back in good health. I am still thinking of going for a formal upright with the straight trunk, but I definitely won't be wiring any branches down as I want to work with the growth habit now. We'll see what happens.
My first attempt at styling this. March 2019.
As it is today.
The other side
Close up