AusBonsai

The attached photos are of a tree I dug last year. As happens when you get an opportunity to dig, sometimes you are not 100% certain what the species is, but of course you dig anyway.
So, if I could be so bold could I please have some ideas (is it any good at all?; should I keep only one trunk?; where is the best line? etc) and a positive ID.
Many thanks in advance.
Watto

g'day watto, i'm gonna go out on a limb. no seriously. its hard to really see the foliage structure, but it could be a thuja, maybe thuja occidentilas.if it is, you can get some cuttings which you can get started in winter. as far as the styling, i'll leave that for someone of more experience mate. goodluck. woody.

watto, woody again, just was looking at some chinese junipers, guess what, it kinda looks like yours as well. thuja or chi. juniper? identifying trees can be tricky. again, goodluck

From the photos it's hard to get an idea of species.

As for styling, start with the basics, decide what style it could fit into. If there is more than one trunk you will have to make sure that it has the potential to be a twin, or one of the multi trunk styles. As soon as you have more than one trunk, it gets more difficult to keep everything in proportion.

I usually prune back hard and then leave it for a season or more to see if it speaks to you!

Good luck

It's hard to see from the photo if this is a green or a grey or a grey/blue shrub. At first sight, if that shrub were mine I'd sure be tempted to make a bonsai out of it. It's got plenty of potential. However, before you or we can properly decide on anything regarding styling, it needs to be cleaned up. Why not take it to your club, I bet there are people who can show you what to remove and what to keep for future use, if you don't?

I would personally wait... Collected conifers need some time to recover and adapt to pot life.. There is no rush.

Asus101 wrote:I would personally wait... Collected conifers need some time to recover and adapt to pot life.. There is no rush.

Good advise, i have made the mistake of rushing a conifer, only for it to die

Certainly doesn't look healthy enough to style. Another year if not two.

I would personally wait... Collected conifers need some time to recover and adapt to pot life.. There is no rush.

This shrub was dug up last year, but we don't know when. It could have been in the pot for over a year or just 5-6 months.
If it's the latter, I wouldn't disturb the roots for another year, but I would certainly start styling from next Spring onwards.
#2: "Collected conifers": best not lump them all together, their resp. treatment varies, even after collection. You don't treat a pine the way you do a juniper.
#3: It does not look unhealthy, just unkempt.
#4: There is no reason why a newly dug tree like this should not be cleaned up, regardless of whether it's e.g. a juniper or a chamaecyparis. On the contrary, it needs to be unburdened of all the dead twigs and foliage, as well a of the copious adventitious twigging that prevents light from getting to the centre and encourages pests and diseases. Overly long shoots should be shortened. Before all of that is done, one can't really make any styling decisions.
Photos of an example of initial cleaning below. It's a Juniper procumbens that was grown in the ground for 4 years and dug up early this month. Like this, it will happily spend a year in its present training pot before the roots are touched again.

Lisa

Hey lisa; nothing wrong with a clean up.

Thanks for the thoughts folks. I took Lisa's advice and gave it a clean up and this has shown some opportunity for future development. The plan is now to put it away for a couple of years to grow and mature.
I was fishing a bit with the positive ID. I don't positively know thus the question however my initial thought was a chamaecyparis, but I am guessing. I tried to match it through a search on google but I am no wiser. I have attached a photo after the tidy up and one of the foliage in the hope that someone can assist.
Cheers - Watto

Hi Watto,
Possibly Juniperus sabina 'Tamariscifolia' see: http://www.conifer.com.au/juniperus_groundcover

Cheers
Mojo Moyogi

Mojo - I am in great debt to you. That looks exactly like my tree. This is a pup off a much larger tree I dug and I did get a couple more as well.
I have also kept that site as it is very helpful for identification purposes for a few junipers I have had the opportunity to dig recently.
Thanks mate!

Hi Watto,

That looks like a good find once it was tidied up.

Most dug junipers are hard to handle for various reasons but that one looks like it will quickly become a bonsai.

Some more of that type with heavy trunks would make good carving.

Grant

Watto wrote:The attached photos are of a tree I dug last year.

hi watto, woody here, sorry for the bum steer mate. When you said they were photos of a tree you dug up. I discounted all the shrubs. . I want be so quick next time. I'm glad its been worked out