Garden centre juniper progression

[mds_1978]

Hey everyone,

I thought I'd document a garden centre juniper I've been working on for a couple of years. I picked it up in 2019 and did a pretty poor initial styling. Have tweaked it a bit since then, and yesterday did a restyling that is going in a direction I'm happy with.

The apex still needs some work, but I'll let it fill out before looking at that.

I will let it recover for the rest of this year, and then work on developing the pads. I want to let the lower branches on the right extend while keeping the upper ones in check so I get a more triangular silhouette. I will probably at some point bring the whole upper section down and in towards the main trunk and plant at a more slanted angle.

Advice & criticism very welcome!

Marc.

As purchased in May 2019, and initial styling


The top branch died off, so restyled and deadwood added in May 2020


I let it grow the rest of 2020 and repotted it at a different angle at the start of this year. This was as of 13 July 2021.


And after the restyle yesterday...

 

[Eckhoffw]

Nice. In the first shot of initial prune, I seriously thought you had made a joke of the tree with some naked arms sticking up at left and a pair of legs with jeans on them sticking out at right.
Great work.

 

[QuantumSparky]

Whenever something on any of my trees dies, it's the whole tree xD Glad to see such a nice tree thriving after unplanned cuts!

 

[PA_Penjing]

I like it, I'm wondering if you removed that root on the lower right before the apex died or after. Junipers are kind of funny, they have roots that coincide with branches. A lot of times losing one means losing the other if they are large. Thus the live veins. Always be ready to lose a large branch if you prune off a large root, or be ready to lose root (create a future shari) with drastic pruning. I'm sorry if you already knew this, just trying to help trouble shoot. The lost apex branch was also a pretty sharp bend, those can be hard on a tree. Again, I do like it, a lot actually. Is this Junipers chinesis "sea green"? It sure grows/takes abuse like one

 

[mds_1978]

Nice. In the first shot of initial prune, I seriously thought you had made a joke of the tree with some naked arms sticking up at left and a pair of legs with jeans on them sticking out at right.
Great work.

Thank you. I hadn't noticed that before, but yes it does look a bit weird!

Whenever something on any of my trees dies, it's the whole tree xD Glad to see such a nice tree thriving after unplanned cuts!

I think I was lucky - the first styling was pretty full on and I removed a lot of foliage. But, it was cheap material so why not push it...

I like it, I'm wondering if you removed that root on the lower right before the apex died or after. Junipers are kind of funny, they have roots that coincide with branches. A lot of times losing one means losing the other if they are large. Thus the live veins. Always be ready to lose a large branch if you prune off a large root, or be ready to lose root (create a future shari) with drastic pruning. I'm sorry if you already knew this, just trying to help trouble shoot. The lost apex branch was also a pretty sharp bend, those can be hard on a tree. Again, I do like it, a lot actually. Is this Junipers chinesis "sea green"? It sure grows/takes abuse like one

I can't remember, though I think the apex branch snapped when I bent it, so that could be the reason it died. I'm just starting to learn about how live veins work on these. Previously I just assumed the live parts of the trunk all supported the growth further up, but as you say that isn't the case and you need to be more careful about removing branches/roots and creating deadwood.

 

[mds_1978]

I like it, I'm wondering if you removed that root on the lower right before the apex died or after. Junipers are kind of funny, they have roots that coincide with branches. A lot of times losing one means losing the other if they are large. Thus the live veins. Always be ready to lose a large branch if you prune off a large root, or be ready to lose root (create a future shari) with drastic pruning. I'm sorry if you already knew this, just trying to help trouble shoot. The lost apex branch was also a pretty sharp bend, those can be hard on a tree. Again, I do like it, a lot actually. Is this Junipers chinesis "sea green"? It sure grows/takes abuse like one

Not sure of the cultivar - the receipt I have from the nursery just says 'Plants'!

 

[QuantumSparky]

Not sure of the cultivar - the receipt I have from the nursery just says 'Plants'!

I can confirm, this is a plant