Bending unwilling branches -

[Adrian]

Adrian,
A little food for thought...As you begin to style more, also keep in mind that the present trunk may not be the best final trunk line; particularly if it lacks taper, movement, or interest. Consider the juniper you styled and posted (a respectable wire job, I'll add). You could have also used the first left branch as the trunk, by removing everything above that junction, and wiring the remaining first branch upward, adding movement to it, and spreading out the remaining branches to become the entire tree. It looks like it could have been just as tall and full, and likely have some dramatic taper, and movement added with wire.

Don't know if it's already been stated, but you'll also want to keep growth closer to the trunk, and remove growth which is further from the trunk...opposite from a beginners instincts. Removing the interior growth does reveal some branching, which is good, but also results in the poodle look.

Regards,
BVF

Hi Brian, thanks very much for your thoughts and advice. I didn't even consider an alternative trunk line to be honest. I read somewhere that beginners like myself are often stuck because they haven't seen or experienced enough trees to easily see the tree inside the pre-bonsai.
Regards the foliage - its funny, I felt I was chasing that foliage all the way to the end of the branches thinking I was defining the shape whilst in the meantime I was removing the valuable foliage closer to the trunk.
I am going to do two things this weekend - buy another pre-bonsai Juniper and put this one in a grow box in the hope that one day it will be salvageable.

Again, thanks so much for your input.

Cheers

Adrian

 

[Vance Wood]

Hi Brian, thanks very much for your thoughts and advice. I didn't even consider an alternative trunk line to be honest. I read somewhere that beginners like myself are often stuck because they haven't seen or experienced enough trees to easily see the tree inside the pre-bonsai.
Regards the foliage - its funny, I felt I was chasing that foliage all the way to the end of the branches thinking I was defining the shape whilst in the meantime I was removing the valuable foliage closer to the trunk.
I am going to do two things this weekend - buy another pre-bonsai Juniper and put this one in a grow box in the hope that one day it will be salvageable.

Again, thanks so much for your input.

Cheers

Adrian

That's a good idea. I think recovery will take a bit longer than a year. Junipers are often slow to come back after this kind of thing but it should live. Again you have a learning experience in keeping it alive and in understanding what happens when you do too much too soon and all together. There is also an issue of species. There are several species of Junipers but the best and easiest to work with are the Chinese Junipers. You can tell them when you look at the botanical name listed on the sale tag. The tag will read Blah, Blah, Juniperius Chinensis Blah Blah. If that phrase is in there somewhere it is a Chinese Juniper, all the other stuff (the blah blahs) become insignificant unless you are looking for cultivars, or a particular sub-species of the tree---for now. This does get complecated. Most bonsai enthusiasts become fairly competant Arborists out of necessity.

Brian was also correct in his recommendation of decreasing the diameter, or tapering the trunk, by replacing the trunk with smaller branches. Which shows another weakness in your tree. If you look at the tree you will see that there is not a great deal of difference between the diameter of the branches to the diameter of the trunk. This brings us back to that issue of perspective. Fat branches make the trunk look smaller, slim branches make the trunk look larger. You always want to make the trunk look larger, it enhances the illusion of age.

 

[Adrian]

That's a good idea. I think recovery will take a bit longer than a year. Junipers are often slow to come back after this kind of thing but it should live. Again you have a learning experience in keeping it alive and in understanding what happens when you do too much too soon and all together. There is also an issue of species. There are several species of Junipers but the best and easiest to work with are the Chinese Junipers. You can tell them when you look at the botanical name listed on the sale tag. The tag will read Blah, Blah, Juniperius Chinensis Blah Blah. If that phrase is in there somewhere it is a Chinese Juniper, all the other stuff (the blah blahs) become insignificant unless you are looking for cultivars, or a particular sub-species of the tree---for now. This does get complecated. Most bonsai enthusiasts become fairly competant Arborists out of necessity.

Brian was also correct in his recommendation of decreasing the diameter, or tapering the trunk, by replacing the trunk with smaller branches. Which shows another weakness in your tree. If you look at the tree you will see that there is not a great deal of difference between the diameter of the branches to the diameter of the trunk. This brings us back to that issue of perspective. Fat branches make the trunk look smaller, slim branches make the trunk look larger. You always want to make the trunk look larger, it enhances the illusion of age.

Hi Vance,
I think also this may bring me to the subject of choosing suitable material in the first place. Perth (West Australia) has such a small bonsai community that there are only a couple of nurseries that sell starter material. To tell you the truth, I didn't really look closely enough at some other stock that was around. The nursery had a number of these 'foemena' junipers and I just chose the one that seemed bushiest without checking taper or anything else that might make it potentially a good tree to work with.
So I assume I should be looking at something with a thicker trunk and taper or other interesting features? should prove quite the challenge !
onward and upwards as they say!
will keep you posted

thanks again

Adrian