Ci’s Little Christmas Tree

[cishepard]

I picked these two up at my local Country Grocer. A Skyrocket Juniper which had a tag and some kind of Japanese Holly, I believe (no tag).
For the juniper, I am thinking of a raft design, as most of the branches are on one side. The third photo is the juniper unbound. A forest ‘look’ may suit the cultivars’ upright growth tendency.
The Ilex, I will probably just chop low, make use of a nice trunk bend and branching already there.
I am pretty new to bonsai, and am unclear about timing for things like chops, wiring and repotting in my climate (PacNW), so I wouldn’t mind some advice on this!

 

[Warpig]

Nice, really looking forward to that holly. If you are still new and learning as you go, I would suggest looking into the care that these will need to pull through the winters for your area. Good luck

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

My experience with Skyrockets (J. scopulorum) is that they have the tendency to throw out large amounts of juvenile foliage if they're cut back hard.
Aphids seem to love them and the foliage has a tendency to stay very coarse/sparse.
I would repot it in late spring if I were you. I've done it in early summer (last year) and mid summer (this year), and it turned out alright. But spring would be better.

 

[cishepard]

My experience with Skyrockets (J. scopulorum) is that they have the tendency to throw out large amounts of juvenile foliage if they're cut back hard.
Aphids seem to love them and the foliage has a tendency to stay very coarse/sparse.
I would repot it in late spring if I were you. I've done it in early summer (last year) and mid summer (this year), and it turned out alright. But spring would be better.

I’m thinking that if I lay it over into a raft, I won’t need to cut back too hard. I will use almost all the branches as the forest trees and curl around the trunk, maybe only cutting back the top quarter. Can I lay it over and wire it in winter, while I’m waiting?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I might own over 50 junipers from all over the world, but I am no expert. I wire them all year round, but my preference is early autumn. At that moment the bark contracts around the wood and doesn't slip off easily (which is does in summer and late spring).
I'm not against wiring them in winter, but it could be problematic due to wounds not healing and foliage turning purple-ish if the internal tissue is damaged. The purple color is a cold and mechanical stress related thing; it could be either, or both and there's no telling which until spring.
So yes, you could start right away. But it's not ideal. In all honesty I think this one can take it regardless.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Nice finds.

For both I would just get them through the winter. You can begin working on the holly in spring, the juniper I would leave alone until after the summer solstice. In the mean time, read, draw out plans, read some more .

 

[cishepard]

I decided to capitalize on my locations mild climate and work my trees a bit early. The conditions are Spring-like right now, and I have ample space for protection in case colder weather sets in, like a large covered porch (my cactus collection lives there over winter), an unheated greenhouse and a cool basement with lighting for my tender succulents.
I started with the holly and am treating it like a boxwood, chopping the top back and barerooting. Unfortunately there was no nebari to speak of, very little flare and an extra couple inches of straight trunk below the soil line. The only style I can see for this tree is a formal upright broom style shohin.
The pot was made for me by my daughter-in-law. After I saw some berry bowls she had made I asked her to make me one with more holes for a colander type bonsai pot. I screened some pumice, granite and bark fines for the soil. I think I will put this one in the basement under lights for the winter, since I was a bit drastic with the pruning.

 

[Warpig]

It sounds like you have a plan for getting them through the winter. I hope they hold up. Vary nice pot btw.

 

[cishepard]

Both trees wintered just fine and have healthy growth this year. I decided to go ahead with my raft idea for the juniper.

I wired all the branches into future trunks and did a severe bend of the main trunk to consolidate the forest and give it some depth.
I cut away the bottom of the pot which will be buried, and teased the roots out a tiny bit. I also cut a hole in the top so I can water the root ball while the pot is lying on it’s side. I also cut the bark away on the bottom of the raft to induce rooting.



The whole thing was put in a grow box with pumice, bark, granite grit and lava rock. I put some movement in the trunks, but I don’t know - maybe they would look better strait and just leaning slightly outward on the edges ... thoughts?
I was going to leave it be now till next year, unless there are any ideas out there to improve things. Ideas would be most welcome!

 

[cishepard]

Since the little ilex is kinda boring, I decided to try and add some interest by attempting to thicken the trunk, maybe even trying for a sumo shohin look. I took a look at the roots. They are pretty lopsided. Tried to spread them out a little to achieve a better nebari and planted it on a board, in a colander, and in the ground. I’ll mulch it with leaves when the freezing weather arrives.
I will let it grow wild for the next year or two and see what happens.

I have a feeling neither of my entries will look like much by the time the contest is over! They both have a long way to go : )

 

[cishepard]

A year and nine months later …

The little ilex really frustrates me. It simply does not grow. It stays nice and green and healthy looking but is just plodding along for new growth. I decided to put it back in a small pot. Now that I’ve been in the hobby a few more years, I have some nice trees and am grooming some of my lesser material with an eye to selling them off and this ilex will be one of those, I think.



The juniper raft is pretty slow as well. When I checked earlier this year (late winter) it still had not formed any roots along the trunk that I could see, however, I only scratched down through the substrate in a couple small areas. I was losing interest in keeping the tree, so I decided to risk slicing off the rootball to ground level.
I’ve been feeling like it will never look like much of a forest, but recently I came across a new Bonsaify video on a windswept juniper raft and got re-inspired! His clump looks very similar to my own:

The tree is doing fine this year with some 2” extensions that I have pruned, hoping to start condensing the foliage. I think the trunks have thickened a bit as well. I decided to pull the trunks down into a windswept style and I think it is an improvement.

I changed the front and ‘swept’ the trunks back over the rootball, so if it never roots from the raft trunk, so what? I won’t have to cut off the original roots for it to fit into a bonsai pot, just prune them flatter. Maybe I will do a repot in Spring and spend next year trying to develop some pads. I guess the contest is over in Dec., 2023, next year … maybe it will look like something by then : )

 

[cishepard]

When I went to repot this juniper, I found zero roots had come from the trunk (which had been scored and planted under the surface since the beginning. I decided to expose the trunk again, and take off the wire for the final contest photo. The bend in the trunk looked a bit weird until I added the rock. I still like the windswept idea, and I think the tree has some potential. Maybe I’ll put it in the ground to thicken up, however I think it will need to have more wiring in any case to counter the upright habit of the cultivar.

Final contest photos: