My first ever Juniper styling

[Drokz123]

Hi Guys,

I'm new on this forums and i'd like to share my first bonsai attempt ever:

So, after a lot of online research, reading a few books and watching a lot of YouTube video's I finally got my hands on a small Juniper from a garden center. I picked this one because I thought it had an interesting looking trunk with movement. (Kinda hard to see with all the foliage on this tree!) I did some proper cleaning first and when attempting a repot I discovered the plant was severely root bound... I tried my best to save as much of the roots possible but cutting a bunch was inevitable.

Here is the Juniper as I just got it.



After cleaning and repotting I removed a few branches which I would definitely not be using in my design and to get a better view of the trunk, which resulted in this:




Then I began wiring and removing some more branches. This process was admittedly a lot harder then I first thought and I wasn't happy with my first attempt. I tried to make a cascade style with the branches on the right, and style the left side upwards. I also wasn't happy about my wiring so I removed all the wires, watched some more YouTube video's and tried again the next day which resulted in this:



I even attempted some deadwood features which was quite fun to do. I'm not sure yet what to do with the right branch though, for now I just wired it and moved it away from the rest of the tree. I thought about removing it but didn't make that decision final yet, any suggestions?
I tried to form some pads too which aren't too bad I think.

I'm thinking about removing the big root on the left side but i'll leave the tree alone for now to recover.

All in all i'm quite happy with my first attempt although I might have got carried away a little and removed too much branches!

Let me know what you guys think and what you would've done different.

Cheers, Tim

 

[Crazy Diamond]

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Don't take this too harsh, I mean it in your best interest.
Junipers are extending species, meaning they grow from the foliar tips outwards. When styling a juniper it's wise to reduce it from the outside inwards: chasing back the foliage towards the trunk, to reduce the size.
Most internet resources fixate on removing weak and crotch growth. But they often forget that we're working with stock so rough and untouched, that it's more effective to keep that foliage. Especially those lower branches that fit into the scale of the tree.

The right trunk or branch on your tree for instance, is unlikely to grow any foliage on the bare wood. So what you have there now, will be the canopy, the branches and everything there is for at least the next five years. If it's a communis juniper, it could be ten years.
On the long run, that makes it difficult to work with.

And it's super common! We all start this way. I think that with this knowledge and a slight adaptation in your approach, you'll produce some real sweet trees in the near future. Your eye for material selection is pretty good!

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

I had this idea earlier, figured it would make sense here...

If the design is from the heart, it should come from the center.
Your arms should be cleaned out to allow light into your heart.
While your outstretched hands remain gathering energy to feed your design.



Skin the yellow straight away.
Design the green.
When the red served it's function, to sustain the tree through design and repot, remove it.

Cheers.

Sorce

 

[Shibui]

I like the design as is (without the right branch or with that side reduced to a really short jin).
The short, twisted trunk lends itself to the windswept style IMHO. Windswept can also look good with sparse foliage so even if the pads take time to grow and fill in I don't see that being a big problem for this tree in this style.
Not sure if you could get some more bends into the lower left branch because the straight section is at odds with the bends and twists in the rest of the trunk and branches.

 

[Drokz123]

Don't take this too harsh, I mean it in your best interest.
Junipers are extending species, meaning they grow from the foliar tips outwards. When styling a juniper it's wise to reduce it from the outside inwards: chasing back the foliage towards the trunk, to reduce the size.
Most internet resources fixate on removing weak and crotch growth. But they often forget that we're working with stock so rough and untouched, that it's more effective to keep that foliage. Especially those lower branches that fit into the scale of the tree.

The right trunk or branch on your tree for instance, is unlikely to grow any foliage on the bare wood. So what you have there now, will be the canopy, the branches and everything there is for at least the next five years. If it's a communis juniper, it could be ten years.
On the long run, that makes it difficult to work with.

And it's super common! We all start this way. I think that with this knowledge and a slight adaptation in your approach, you'll produce some real sweet trees in the near future. Your eye for material selection is pretty good!

I came here to learn, and this is exactly what I need! Thanks for the feedback I think i'll remove the right branch or transform it into a jin feature.

 

[Drokz123]

I like the design as is (without the right branch or with that side reduced to a really short jin).
The short, twisted trunk lends itself to the windswept style IMHO. Windswept can also look good with sparse foliage so even if the pads take time to grow and fill in I don't see that being a big problem for this tree in this style.
Not sure if you could get some more bends into the lower left branch because the straight section is at odds with the bends and twists in the rest of the trunk and branches.

Never looked at it that way, I was to focused on the cascade style at first. Windswept seems like a good idea. I'll defenitly try to make a short jin from that right branch. Thanks!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I came here to learn, and this is exactly what I need! Thanks for the feedback I think i'll remove the right branch or transform it into a jin feature.

Don't!
It's a communis, right?
Keep everything you can, for now. Because when you're going to repot it, it can behave.. rather difficult. This is an issue with communis - and the reason why there's hardly any yamadori specimens even though France is full of them. They don't like root work at all, and if it drops branches on the left side.. You'll have nothing left on the right side either.
Keep everything for now. Wait how summer turns out.

If you really want to work trees and get your skill level up, try some cheap procumbens. Most nurseries have them for a couple euros. Procumbens are way more forgiving.