I have been watching this tree for the past 20 years or more. It is on the street my parents live on and even before I worked with bonsai I thought it was being cut to be some type of bonsai. I knew the owners of the home but not very well. I saw the wife one day at the local school that I was doing some work at and ask her was her husband shaping the juniper at the mailbox as a bonsai. She ask what is a bonsai, I had my answer and gave her a quick explanation of bonsai. Told her to tell her husband if he ever got tired of it let me know and I would dig it up. Well they sold the house about 18 months ago and I keep telling my self I need to stop by and tell the new owner the same thing, if they ever wanted it moved, let me know. I did not know them too good so I never stopped by, I pass this house every day on my way to work. This summer I saw some men cutting the grass and trimming the hedge around the house, Should Have Stopped and ask.... on my way home that afternoon.... they had cut the tree way back to a BOX shape. Cutting the ends off of many branches, as I watched it die back through out the summer I wanted to kick my self. I saw the owner in town one day and told him how I had been watching the tree and that if they continued to cut it back like they did it would die for sure. Ask the same thing, if you ever want to get rid of it just let me know, he said OK sure and started waking off. then turned around and said just come on by and get it. I told him I would wait till winter as it was still hot end of summer. He said he would tell his people doing the yard not to touch it any more. I know it would be best for it to just stay in the ground there and recover over the next couple of years. But afraid the yard men may forget and give it another hair cut. Now that we are getting to a point that it should be some cold freeze I want to dig it up. I plan to build a box for it and get some pumice or use some mix of Turface and bark (mixture that BVF told me about ) that I already have. I will get as much root ball and leave a fair amount of soil if possible.
It is hard to tell much from the pictures with the weeds around it. You can see all the die back that happened and size of a couple of branches. One picture shows the trunk also.
What is the best route for this and all the dead limbs, should I cut them off when I dig it up or wait until it recovers. Once all the dead are gone it may not be any thing left to really work with, but it is worth a try.
Thanks for your Help
It is hard to tell much from the pictures with the weeds around it. You can see all the die back that happened and size of a couple of branches. One picture shows the trunk also.
What is the best route for this and all the dead limbs, should I cut them off when I dig it up or wait until it recovers. Once all the dead are gone it may not be any thing left to really work with, but it is worth a try.
Thanks for your Help