Eric Schrader
Chumono
I bought this juniper from a nursery that was going out of business in the summer of 2004. At the time it was growing in a half wine barrel with some other plants. They wanted $30 for the whole thing but I only wanted the juniper. I got it for $10 and then ripped it out of the container with a shovel full of soil and took it home to plant on the top of my newly installed rock wall. You can just see it as the little bit of green hanging over the center of the wall in this photo:
It grew there for two years (I think) all the while I was eyeing the base of the trunk because I liked the way that it had a little bit of muscle to it and an interesting taper. I dug it out and placed it in a mica pot during the winter of 2006-2007 removing the long branches that had been trailing down over the rock wall:
A couple months later when I was sure that the tree had transitioned to the pot well and was growing I removed more of the large branches and reduced the foliage to a few small ones that I would be keeping
It didn't take long, I think only about 18 months for the tree to be basically in show shape, this photo is from August of 2008
At the January 2009 BIB show:
I left the tree alone, only thinning it occasionally for the next couple years. Then last summer I decided to cut it back hard. The tree responded well and this is what it looked like before work started at workshop earlier this month. The foliage has started growing much more compactly since I moved to a hotter climate.
I started by thinning the foliage, removing stuff that was growing down and that was old or weak. I had about 30% of the foliage thinned when Boon decided that it needed a major cleanup. He removed about 60% of the total foliage mass, concentrating on refining the branch structure and simplifying it so that the tree looks more simple and elegant.
The result after thinning but before I started wiring:
A couple hour's worth of wiring branches gave a pleasing result. Might be ready to show again next winter if it doesn't get too far out of control again this summer.
A couple of "Mike" trees that this tree aspires to be like:
Cheers,
Eric
It grew there for two years (I think) all the while I was eyeing the base of the trunk because I liked the way that it had a little bit of muscle to it and an interesting taper. I dug it out and placed it in a mica pot during the winter of 2006-2007 removing the long branches that had been trailing down over the rock wall:
A couple months later when I was sure that the tree had transitioned to the pot well and was growing I removed more of the large branches and reduced the foliage to a few small ones that I would be keeping
It didn't take long, I think only about 18 months for the tree to be basically in show shape, this photo is from August of 2008
At the January 2009 BIB show:
I left the tree alone, only thinning it occasionally for the next couple years. Then last summer I decided to cut it back hard. The tree responded well and this is what it looked like before work started at workshop earlier this month. The foliage has started growing much more compactly since I moved to a hotter climate.
I started by thinning the foliage, removing stuff that was growing down and that was old or weak. I had about 30% of the foliage thinned when Boon decided that it needed a major cleanup. He removed about 60% of the total foliage mass, concentrating on refining the branch structure and simplifying it so that the tree looks more simple and elegant.
The result after thinning but before I started wiring:
A couple hour's worth of wiring branches gave a pleasing result. Might be ready to show again next winter if it doesn't get too far out of control again this summer.
A couple of "Mike" trees that this tree aspires to be like:
Cheers,
Eric
But you've proven it can be just as arresting as any other. 
Well done!
