First Juniper Cascade styling - any advice would be appreciated

[souvik1811]

Hello gurus, Bonsai newbie here, and first post on this site.

This is my first attempt at initial styling of a juniper I picked up at a nearby nursery - possibly a chinese juniper.

I have tried to create pads on all sides - before and after photos attached (sorry for the less than optimal lighting). The leaf pads look very scraggly, hopefully they will become denser with time? Should I have thinned out the foliage more? There are some patches really green, while some others not so much. It seems strange that the main cascading branch has such healthy shoots while the top back and side are not so healthy. Maybe that is because of less light at the nursery? I hope they will fill in now that the foliage has been opened out. I plan to put it in a nice cascade pot come spring.

Any design or any other kind of advice would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Actually pretty good for a first attempt. My eyes are not good enough to design from a computer screen, but my impression is that its okay.

Going forward balancing out the foliage pads will be the main goal. Be cautious, the lower the foliage pad is on the descending trunk, the less vigorous it will be in growing. Do not thin out the lower pads too heavily. For years I had a cascade azalea. The few above the rim branches had to be pruned 4 times a summer, the upper third maybe twice a summer, and the lower third maybe every other year. There was a dramatic difference in growth rates from top to bottom. It took work to keep it all balanced.

 

[Shibui]

Cascade looks a lot easier but is harder to pull off well. Your initial attempt looks quite good.
A couple of my observations. Please don't take these as criticism or go straight out and make changes just because someone said. Just meant as food for thought.

The long, lazy curve in the main trunk is not my idea of juniper or of cascade. My impression of cascade is that the environment that created such a tree is harsh meaning there's likely to be more abrupt bends where trunks may have died and side branches taken over in the past. The apex and the smaller cascade branch appear to have tighter bends, more like my impression of cascade.

Cascade apex often causes difficulties. Most early attempts seen to have a tall apex. Yours is not as tall as some who appear to be scared of cutting bits off or trying to 'balance' the down with some up. Again, I think about the natural forces that caused the tree to grow as a cascade - strong katabatic winds, snow and rockfalls, lack of light. All these things are promoting a cascading trunk but there's also a strong ascending trunk. Why does the tree grow in 2 opposing directions? I find cascades more dramatic and realistic where the apex is abbreviated or absent.

Branches growing opposite the cascade. See notes above. Assuming this tree growing on a cliff or very steep mountainside, which direction is the light coming from? Branches and trunks all grow toward the light and much less toward shady side. A few branches opposite the cascade can be OK but I think look more natural when short and/or bent and twisted or curving back out toward the light.

It seems strange that the main cascading branch has such healthy shoots while the top back and side are not so healthy. Maybe that is because of less light at the nursery? I hope they will fill in now that the foliage has been opened out.

Not sure why the end of the long trunk is more healthy than the areas closer to the roots. My best guess would also be light or lack thereof. Now that you have removed some foliage and assuming allowing more even light I'd expect to see those areas improve.
Also endorse the comments by Leo about vigour and apical dominance. Don't be surprised to see stronger growth in the upper parts and less at the tail and prune accordingly.
I'm pretty confident that you will find the branches way too crowded when the tree develops a bit more. I've found it necessary to remove more than half the initial branching after the first few years to allow for spaces and for the chosen branches to develop.

You have not included a location in your profile or in the post. Hoping you are somewhere in the northern hemisphere where it's Autumn now. Down here it's spring and junipers are growing strong which can occasionally cause problems with branches dying after bending.

 

[souvik1811]

Thanks a lot Leo and Shibui for your valuable insights and responses.

@leo: Good point to look out for. Right now the bottom is more vigorous than the top, and I hope this behavior balances that out first. After that, I will be vigilant as you said.

@Shibui: Now that you said it, I completely agree that I might have ended up making a stereotypical design I might have seen somewhere rather than one that looks plausibly natural. In fact I tried to prepare pads in every direction - left, right, back and top. And now I have no explanation as to why the tree decided to cascade downward.

Fair point also about branches getting overcrowded. I'll keep these in mind for the next tree - I have another Rocky Mountain Juniper waiting to be styled come Spring.

And yes, I am from India and it is Autumn here. It has been around 3 weeks since the bends were put in, and no impact so far. Fingers crossed!

 

[defra]

No advice then whats already given but...
The end of the bend down trunk seems to be the former leader of the tree before it was bent down its the longest extended branch and now the tree has to adept because other branches are the highest point takes some time unles its a more ground cover type of shrub

 

[souvik1811]

Yes, thats true. The cascading branch was the leader, but it was growing horizontally as you can see in the 'before' picture. So I guess it  is a ground covering type of shrub?

Any idea what type of juniper it might be? I have an app called plantnet that says it is juniperus chinensis, but it doesnt say what cultivar.

 

[defra]

Yes, thats true. The cascading branch was the leader, but it was growing horizontally as you can see in the 'before' picture. So I guess it  is a ground covering type of shrub?

Any idea what type of juniper it might be? I have an app called plantnet that says it is juniperus chinensis, but it doesnt say what cultivar.

Hard to tell they look all the same but different grotwh habbits.
Ive got my own odd juniper sabina but its a variety that also grows as a ground cover so instead of style it informal upright i went for windswept but cascade also suitable make use of the natural growth habbit instead of fight it and force it going upwards !
So in your case the same it grew already cascading so you use that feature now in the design