Utah Juniper, my first yamadori!

[justBonsai]

Parting gift from the Hidden Gardens. Jeff is a good guy. Anyone in the Chicago area should pay his nursery a visit!

Randy Knight collected Utah Juniper. Apparently the way Randy pots trees is that he'll stick the bottom of the root ball flat against the bottom of the pot. Meaning there could be a lot of trunk, nebari, and other features hidden.

This will definitely be a shohin tree. I will repot in fall or spring and probably give the tree a full growing season to build strength in lower foliage and give me more branching options. First styling will be done season 2 or 3. Nice chunky 4-5 inch base with hollow and Deadwood features. Will be a lot of fun!

Might do a light slip pot this summer and clear out some gunky soil on top so you can see the rest of the trunk better. Full repot will still be held off as temps will be too hot.

 

[Nybonsai12]

Nicely aged trunk! Rugged. Looking forward to updates.

 

[CasAH]

Good meeting you Julian. Wish we could have gotten together to go hiking.

Hoping for a safe trip home.

 

[sorce]

Good God Home already?

It is winter huh!? @M. Frary !

Sorce

 

[justBonsai]

Good God Home already?

It is winter huh!? @M. Frary !

Sorce

Will be tomorrow!

 

[coltranem]

Nice tree...the last few things posted as Yamadori have been "ho hum"....This is what I think of for a Yamadori

 

[M. Frary]

It is winter huh!? @M. Frary !

Just a taste.

If this tree were mine I might try to use every inch of foliage when I styled it. It's nice now and with a little help in the right direction will go a long way in making it great.

 

[justBonsai]

Just a taste.

If this tree were mine I might try to use every inch of foliage when I styled it. It's nice now and with a little help in the right direction will go a long way in making it great.

Because much of the trunk is buried it's difficult to come up with a styling direction until I see the rest of the movement.

After full repotting I will come up with a plan. Will be a killer shohin for sure.

 

[Dav4]

Lot's of character there for a small tree. Good luck with it.

 

[chicago1980]

Parting gift from the Hidden Gardens. Jeff is a good guy. Anyone in the Chicago area should pay his nursery a visit!

Randy Knight collected Utah Juniper. Apparently the way Randy pots trees is that he'll stick the bottom of the root ball flat against the bottom of the pot. Meaning there could be a lot of trunk, nebari, and other features hidden.

This will definitely be a shohin tree. I will repot in fall or spring and probably give the tree a full growing season to build strength in lower foliage and give me more branching options. First styling will be done season 2 or 3. Nice chunky 4-5 inch base with hollow and Deadwood features. Will be a lot of fun!

Might do a light slip pot this summer and clear out some gunky soil on top so you can see the rest of the trunk better. Full repot will still be held off as temps will be too hot.

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View attachment 158211

I've seen this tree in person! Going to be wonderful!

 

[yenling83]

That's a nice little tree. The foliage sure is blue! The vigorous growth on the Utah's i've had never got like that. I wonder if it could be a Utah/Sierra Hybrid or something similar. Not that it really matters, what matters is that you got a nice little trunk there!

After about 4 years of trying to make a Shohin out of our native junipers, I started grafting Kishu. I just wasn't happy with the large foliage on such a small tree even though I wanted to keep the native so badly.

 

[justBonsai]

Foliage is a bit coarser but I think it's workable. The scale will not be as good but I've always really wanted a blue foliage juniper in my collection so this one won't be grafted.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Just a taste.

If this tree were mine I might try to use every inch of foliage when I styled it. It's nice now and with a little help in the right direction will go a long way in making it great.

Strong second for that! Shame to waste any of this tree.

 

[justBonsai]

Hanging out in its new home! Did minor slip pot and exposed trunk base by removing top gunky soil.

Brought one branch forward but I lack good branching in some regions.

I will be approach grafting on this tree but by repositioning native foliage. First styling still 2 years away probably.

Will get good picture of trunk tomorrow. Bright lighting is hiding all the trunk features. Lots of cool shari lines and character.

 

[justBonsai]

Some sexy trunk shots. Will graft for sure but by redirecting native foliage. Placement is just not good with leggy branches with tuffs at end.

 

[LanceMac10]

Design ideas?

 

[justBonsai]

Design ideas?

Nothing yet. I don't think this will be some super unique tree as far as design goes. Will be a pretty conventional shohin Juniper but with an awesome base.

 

[LanceMac10]

You mentioned grafting. Where will you graft? Surely that falls within a design direction?

Looking at it, I don't think your going to be able to call it conventional. All of your live wood points in the opposite direction from the other.

 

[justBonsai]

You mentioned grafting. Where will you graft? Surely that falls within a design direction?

Looking at it, I don't think your going to be able to call it conventional. All of your live wood points in the opposite direction from the other.

Pretty much wherever I can. Just to get foliage lower and closer to the trunk. I don't expect all of them to take so the more the better. I'll have to bring the foliage on the right side forward.

I'm sure a solid design will come to mind after looking at the tree enough. As far as approach grafts go I'm giving the tree the remainder of the season to build more vigor and will start them next year. By then I'll have a design plan and will know graft placements.

I just know as it is now it will be difficult to style the tree because the foliage is far away from the very interesting trunk.

 

[LanceMac10]

Looks to be an old piece of material, (obviously), so any back budding from aggressive feeding, water, sun exposure would probably be minimal if any. But I MIGHT CONSIDER THIS APPROACH FOR TWO OR THREE YEARS BEFORE I consider grafting. Damn lazy typing!!!

Maybe wire it out to achieve maximum photosynthesis potential?

Approach graft? Scion?