Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
After our discussion about chasing foliage back on juniper bonsai, I thought I would share this one example.
In my front yard I have some garden junipers that have been there over 20 years. I was thinking about removing them, and was wondering if there was any bonsai potential in the stumps. The bushes were overgrown (styled as a hedge), with 2 - 3' branches that concealed a darkened, and completely foliage-free, interior.
Two years ago I pruned one of the bushes back all the way to the trunk on one side, leaving about 2/3rds of the foliage on the top and the far side. I specifically left stubs from most of the branches I trimmed, in the hope that I might get some foliage to pop. I was surprised by two things:
(1) I did get foliage to pop low on the trunk; in fact much lower than I expected and
(2) Some of the twiggy branches that I trimmed back to 50% of their length popped new growth, even though there was no longer foliage on the branch.
I am sharing this example just to show that it IS possible to get low growth on an old trunk, or growth on a branch with no foliage (as long as the sap hasn't withdrawn and the branch died). However I also wanted to point out this is a very strong juniper, the roots were not touched, I left 2/3rds of the foliage alone, and the side that popped growth got very strong morning sun.
This is almost two years to the day after I pruned.
In my front yard I have some garden junipers that have been there over 20 years. I was thinking about removing them, and was wondering if there was any bonsai potential in the stumps. The bushes were overgrown (styled as a hedge), with 2 - 3' branches that concealed a darkened, and completely foliage-free, interior.
Two years ago I pruned one of the bushes back all the way to the trunk on one side, leaving about 2/3rds of the foliage on the top and the far side. I specifically left stubs from most of the branches I trimmed, in the hope that I might get some foliage to pop. I was surprised by two things:
(1) I did get foliage to pop low on the trunk; in fact much lower than I expected and
(2) Some of the twiggy branches that I trimmed back to 50% of their length popped new growth, even though there was no longer foliage on the branch.
I am sharing this example just to show that it IS possible to get low growth on an old trunk, or growth on a branch with no foliage (as long as the sap hasn't withdrawn and the branch died). However I also wanted to point out this is a very strong juniper, the roots were not touched, I left 2/3rds of the foliage alone, and the side that popped growth got very strong morning sun.
This is almost two years to the day after I pruned.
