Another collected Rocky Mountain Juniper

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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This is a tree I've had for 5 years. The deadwood is exceptional...it has 3 live veins, each of which is only an inch wide. I gave it its' first pruning and wiring in the summer of 2007. These were taken just before and after the initial work.
 

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Dav4

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I rewired the tree again maybe 3 years ago, then basically let the tree grow. Unlike my other collected junipers, the growth on this tree has been quite ropey and coarse, and I have been considering grafting this tree with Shimpaku. I brought this tree to a Ryan Neil critique last month...he says he has never seen a RMJ that doesn't "tighten up" with proper technique...feed and water aggressively, wiring ALL the foliage out, and NO PINCHING. So, another round of wiring was in order...here is a picture taken last week just as I had started. I'm almost done and will get another picture soon.
 

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Dav4

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A quick shot from this morning...all major branches wired and in place. I still need to do some wiring and judicious thinning, particularly on the upper right area of the canopy.
 

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JudyB

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That trunk is gorgeous. It could stand alone with no foliage... very powerful.
 

tmmason10

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I'll echo Judy by saying the trunk has great character. You have a few of these, have you grafted shimpaku on any yet?
 

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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I'll echo Judy by saying the trunk has great character. You have a few of these, have you grafted shimpaku on any yet?

Not yet. I started a bunch of shimpaku cuttings this past summer with the idea that this tree would be grafted. That idea is on hold while I see if I can tame the foliage this tree offers. While I will never expect this tree to have the nice, compact foliage I've got on my other RMJs, I do think it is more compact then it was...we'll see in a few more years.
 

Dav4

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Getting there...still have a fair amount of fine wiring to do which, based on my current pace, will be finished by February:mad:. I thought the tree looked nice lit up by the sun...
 

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Smoke

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Nice tree, will be really great with some wire!
 

Brian Van Fleet

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Getting there...still have a fair amount of fine wiring to do which, based on my current pace, will be finished by February:mad:. I thought the tree looked nice lit up by the sun...

How's it coming???
 

Dav4

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Haven't had any time...in-laws have been here for two weeks with one more week to go :D. Hopefully this weekend or next week, though it's gonna get cold here then.
 
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Brian Van Fleet

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Haven't had any time...in-laws have been here for two weeks with one more week to go :D. Hopefully this weekend or next week, though it's gonna get cold here then.

I seem to get quite a bit of bonsai work done when the in-laws are in town...:eek:
 

Dan W.

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I'm glad to see that RMJ's do well that far south.

Just out of curiosity... How cold is cold in north Georgia? We have family in central Georgia and the heat in spring was enough for me. supposedly it wasn't even hot yet.
 

Dav4

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This is my 3rd winter here in N. GA, so my experience is limited. The typical winter has daytime highs in the low 50's in December-January with night time temps in the low 30's. The first two winters here were cold by locals standards- we barely hit 32f for an entire week and had night time lows in the single digits. This winter has been much milder, though, with only a handful of hard freezes to this point...should hit upper 50's today.
 

mcpesq817

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Looking great! Looks like the foliage is tighter now too - are you still thinking about the shimpaku grafts?
 

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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I brought this tree to a Ryan Neil workshop last week. After some discussion, we decided a slight shift in planting angle to the left, with the added movement, would make for a more dynamic tree. Gotta find me a nice pot for this one, now.
 

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