Well I have finally potted one of the two Junipers.
I am not happy with the results. Notice I have planted this one slightly off center to the left. I had intended to place a rock on the left to accentuate what I had hoped to be a windswept interpretation. As I look at this Juniper after planting I am tempted to practice Jin and/or Shari techniques on the "trunk" section (bent to the right). I will let this one just recover from the planting for several months and think it through.
[img]https://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz114/id_shs/Bonsai/B1b.jpg[/img]
Also both side views....
[img]https://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz114/id_shs/Bonsai/B1f.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz114/id_shs/Bonsai/B1c.jpg[/img]
The main "trunk" was already broken or cut from the nursery. I trimmed quite a bit of other material off of it to leave what you see now.
My thoughts are now to just let it recover after planting and continue to get advice and/or study options for it.
The second has not been potted but I did some preliminary shaping. I have also used wire to support the outer limbs that were drooping and I hope they will hold after a few weeks to a few months. I will pot it at the time I feel it is holding shape.
Possible front view
[img]https://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz114/id_shs/Bonsai/B2a.jpg[/img]
Possible back view
[img]https://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz114/id_shs/Bonsai/B2b.jpg[/img]
Top view
[img]https://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz114/id_shs/Bonsai/B2c.jpg[/img]
Suggestions and comments welcome.
Scott
Scott, you have a wickedly long trunk with this Juni...very straight with no taper. I would try and figure out how to minimize that long trunk and incorporate that hard turn in the trunk into your design.
Perhaps an air-layer somewhere up the trunk...or some heavy gauge copper on the trunk an bend the snot out of it to compact the tree.
Perhaps an air-layer somewhere up the trunk...or some heavy gauge copper on the trunk an bend the snot out of it to compact the tree.
I agree about the trunk, it is very long with minimal taper. I had hoped the curve in the trunk and the branch might be used in somewhat of a windswept appearance. It seemed to make sense when I was looking at it in the original pot.....not so much now.
I still think I will just leave it alone for a few weeks and make sure it is over the shock of planting and then begin to work on it. I am busily trimming and wiring my Bougie and Boxwood right now.
Thanks for the suggestions and I might try to wire it if it can be bent. If it does break then it really has one future and that is for me to try some Jin and/or Shari on this trunk and near branches.
I still think I will just leave it alone for a few weeks and make sure it is over the shock of planting and then begin to work on it. I am busily trimming and wiring my Bougie and Boxwood right now.
Thanks for the suggestions and I might try to wire it if it can be bent. If it does break then it really has one future and that is for me to try some Jin and/or Shari on this trunk and near branches.
I think the shadow is tricking the view. At first I thought these were decent photos but after viewing them this morning I see some angle and shadow mistakes.
It is odd, to me I see a completely different representation when looking at the pictures than live. The trunk is not reverse tapered but admittedly is does not have much taper.
Thanks for the suggestions.
It is odd, to me I see a completely different representation when looking at the pictures than live. The trunk is not reverse tapered but admittedly is does not have much taper.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I see that large branch to the left becoming the main trunk and leaving the lower right branch on to thicken the trunk. Make a jin out of the top right branch. Work on a final outcome as a semi-cascade.TomM wrote:Hmmm - wicked thick branch partway up the thinner trunk. Again, like the bougie, reverse taper. A good candidate for air-layer in that area. The same might be true for the bougainvillea too.
TomM
Just my thoughts.
I was progressing quite nicely with this one until we took a trip to Europe and left it to be cared for and....well, it wasn't.
When we came home I noticed it was dry....bone dry. Of course I watered it but to no avail it browned and died.
I learned a lot with this, my first Bonsai. One thing is that I will have some successes and failures along the way.
When we came home I noticed it was dry....bone dry. Of course I watered it but to no avail it browned and died.
I learned a lot with this, my first Bonsai. One thing is that I will have some successes and failures along the way.
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Andthenwhathappened
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Those things like humid and moist dirt, all over their bough, and branch big enough to handle it, they like living in a plastic lock bag with a little opening and flower white. Terrarium bonsai. I don't exactly care what shape it has or form, lol. It's your plant what is important is that you like it, it's a pet. They grow pretty quick in the right conditions. Apparently you already knew that. Did you know that bough will root a little too in the right conditions? If not then yeah you could give it one. Oh sorry for your loss. You could get another one. In general, personally I do not like a curved trunk because although it may have just this overwhelming bit of life illustrated into it as it grows into itself, with such personal meaning and even sentiment by the owner or viewer, because with age a lot of bonsai do this, and the spectacular about it still living is that it actually lives that way, but for how long? That question is what I do not like, and a lot of bonsai roots seem to be stranglers, they cut, they just seem like they have to or the tree won't live. So I don't buy if I don't think that can't correct with a cut and live through it. Those big ol curved trunk that nearly have an s shape, they seem to be cutting the xylem and phloem off, giving the owner a feeling of like their being taught how to bonsai looking at that and calculating age, noticing a big ol taproot too even, but really what are the odds that it'll live past 10 years without a chop? Sure it might seem like a nutrient reserve growing that way, even helping leaves go small, but really, how many curved trunks you see that ate themselves live past maybe 30 years?Oh you were a beginner, so if you buy, another one, there if you want you have an idea and an experiment if you want to train the tree. Anyway. Take care of yourself and don't get too upset about the tree, they clone and 10-15 years passes quick. No sense in wiring when you can cut and grow a simple desired shape, but preference is preference and sentiment is sentiment, if sentiment is a preference, try a misho, a seedling. Perhaps that will help. ANyway on the pics, first one looks so knotty, that really, might cut down on the life span quite a bit, or new growth should just be able to be kept small and live there so you know that spot is with enough life now possibly sustaining later. That is why Junipers get carved up, the knots cause problems later in it's nutrient cycle, from my guess, it isn't like it is done solely for aesthetics. Second pic, just woah that gonna either die or need propagation to survival in it's later years with a carve to help sustain it. Third one, more of the same but keeping it in the dirt is going to be rather rough as it ages, it'll topple. 4th 5th and 6th photo, just goes to show the need for big and thick, or the time that it takes to get that size even shows either there is an indecisive suggestion of it just growing and that is something, and with bonsai in the early years the look is really changeable as it ages then you know having a particular personal preference about the plant and keeping it that way is for it's health and management. If you lets those roots go off in that pot it'll strangle itself. ANyway the rest well, you live as you learn learn as you live and your opinion really is your own.
I won't respond to that whole mega-parargraph other than to say that the advice given is 100% wrong for juniper. Placing a juniper in an aquairum or bag, indoors, with little to no ventilation, and constantly most soil covering even the trunk is NO WAY to develop bonsai. In fact, it is a very good way to kill your juniper.