Cleaned up juniper.

[ChrisV]

Today I finished cleaning up and styling a juniper from one of my customers that i would like to share.
The tree was kind of neglected. It didn't have any styling or repotting done in a long while. Maybe even years.
The foliage was dense, the branches were all facing upwards, even some of the thicker primary branches.
And the rootball only contained.... roots.
I hardly found any substrate and water just ran of the pot when watering.
So I gave the roots a lite trim just to let it make new smaller roots and give it some more space to grow in the pot. Also changed the angle a bit.
After that a lot of cutting unwanted upward growing branches and thinning out the dense foliage to get more air and sun in the tree.
Last wiring and styling.
Im kinda happy with the result and luckily the owner is too.
His only task is to repot it in a couple of months when the tree shows it is recovered from the styling.

 

[LanceMac10]

Hopefully you give the owner a little nudge, and say...."Working the roots and re-potting helps to build a better understanding of how the tree grows".
Sometimes I can't understand why people get involved in container growing, but don't bother to attend to the very fundamentals of the "art".....


Your work is always exemplary, however.

 

[Vin]

Hopefully you give the owner a little nudge, and say...."Working the roots and re-potting helps to build a better understanding of how the tree grows".
Sometimes I can't understand why people get involved in container growing, but don't bother to attend to the very fundamentals of the "art".....


Your work is always exemplary, however.

No "Sheeta Wiring" from Chris, that's for sure.

 

[Giga]

Great job and photo

 

[Wilson]

You have a great talent with your styling, I long for the day I can accomplish a overhaul like this!

 

[ChrisV]

Thanks guys! @LanceMac10 the owner is an older person just started out with bonsai and just buying great trees because he loves to have and look at them and can afford it. So he still has heaps to learn thats the reason why I and some other people teach him. I also maintain some of his trees as do some other people for him.
Some people just like the collecting and enjoying looking at bonsai aspect more then working on them.

 

[just.wing.it]

That thing's awesome, I'd love to have it on my bench...

 

[defra]

Nice work chris !
The bush becomes tree again !

Hows your garden coming allong i remember a thread from you when you started working on it just curious for the updates

 

[ChrisV]

@defra the garden is coming along nicely. I'm adding more trees every week or so. bigger ones for my private collection and smaller ones for selling etc. End of may after my demo's i'm adding another 30 trees for selling and around that time the path and plantings in the garden should be done too. I'll keep you guys posted on that later.

 

[defra]

I would like to come and visit when your done chris so please let me know

 

[ChrisV]

@defra no problemo i'll let you know

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Nice job Chris, looks great.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

You should be happy with the result! A vast improvement!

I hesitate to offer suggestions, but I am going to toss them out there anyway. I think the foliage is perhaps too heavy, and the apex could use more definition.

However I would be thrilled to have this as my tree after you styled it!

 

[ChrisV]

Thanks for the compliments. @Bonsai Nut Thats the trick it looks heavy but it in fact isn't . From the all sides the pads look round and full however when viewed from above they are spread and open to let air an light come in. It is all about branch placement. No clumping up foliage to make pads. Same goes for the apex it has a lot of branches but if you look from above you can see the soil through it.
This way it can still produce backbuds on the older wood and fill up even more.
The before photo it was much denser and light couldn't reach the inner parts, thats why I thinned it out first removed unwanted branches and with the leftovers I created pads.
It is a common way to style junipers in japan even for big shows.