Potential introduction

[RoadManDenDron]

time to finally introduce myself, another Lockdown noob! grateful to have found my interest heading into winter so plenty of time to read and learn from so many great posts on here to prepare me for the spring growth I am enjoying watching in my early trees who probably owe their young lives to the wisdom of this forum so thank you!

Decided it would be best to start this thread and seek help at the earliest possible stage! Decent bit of gardening experience previously however mostly with fruits and veggies so a bit of a learning curve most of all in the aesthetic aspects and a growing collection of sticks in pots and 'clearance bargainsai' I hope to make into something some day.

I am planning to buy a yamadori juniper to build my understanding of preserving and maybe eventually tweaking and styling deadwood.

Do any of these trees stand out as 'better' character to the others or do any show any immediate signs you would avoid?

I do already have one i lean towards but I decided to ask here for some more knowledgeable opinions

I am aware sabina can be questionably hard to look after in the UK from info provided by the nursery, who i trust to do as they say in ensuring the tree is healthy before it is offered for sale. They also say they get good results with the species but I'd be interested to hear of others experiences in similar 8b9a zones with this species

Hope you can understand me asking for help with this decision now a new tree seems to be looking at 10× what I was paying for practice material I want to be sure I pick something worth it.

 

[sorce]

Which one do you want?

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[RoadManDenDron]

thank you! was looking forward to one day getting my very own welcome haha!

Mostly number 3 but I feel my reasoning to be REAL bad I think the dead wood looks like a dragon from another angle and I'm not sure I could even do anything with it but it jumped straight out at me
I also liked how its almost as if the branch is the tree and the trunk and wood almost suggest a landscape its sitting on but maybe some of the others with more branches would give this same idea a better look

(this is the same tree from the 'dragon' angle)

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Welcome to what can easily become a life long hobby.

If you have full sun, meaning full sun for at least 12 hours a day at summer solstice, with full sun Junipers are fairly easy to grow. If you get less than 10 hours of direct sun where you choose to site your juniper, there is the possibility of issues developing. There are some who feel junipers can "get by" with less direct sun. I do believe as light intensity and duration decrease, you will have more issues with pathogens and pests.

If you have some bonsai experience pretty much all of the junipers imaged have "bonsai potential". However I think 3, 5 and 6, would be easier to style into bonsai. I can see a path forward for those three. I like 3 the best.

Any one of them could be made to work. Choose the one the you see the best future forward. After all, you will be doing the work.

 

[faker]

Welcome! I'm a big fan of #3 personally, as it looks like there is plenty of deadwood to work on, nice movement, and potentially some alternate fronts.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Don't forget - when evaluating bonsai start at the nebari and work up. You want to look at the base of the tree where it meets the soil, and then secondarily the trunk line.

If you evaluate based on this criteria, there is not a single tree that comes close to #3 It may be a little heavy on the deadwood, but it is always easier to remove a little deadwood... than add it

 

[RoadManDenDron]

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly I am relieved to have finally joined after months of reading replies from you guys to other people

I think I have seen enough to know you aren't just saying 3 cos I said I liked that one and I'm encouraged that maybe my 'eye' caught something all along,

I will have to look further into my actual sunlight hours I'm thinking 10+ hours is quite possible but maybe not 12 but fingers crossed its pretty close thank you this info was very useful

 

[Colorado]

I’d go #3

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I think I have seen enough to know you aren't just saying 3 cos I said I liked that one and I'm encouraged that maybe my 'eye' caught something all along,

I actually voted and posted my comment before I saw that you liked #3. There is a lot to work with there, but just remember to leave the deadwood alone until you get the tree super healthy with lots of foliage and lots of options. Don't reduce the deadwood now... and regret it later.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I voted for number 3, Traveller. The Woody Dwarves agree that it has the most splendid options. I’d lug THAT one back here, to the Tiny Forest

Pleasure to make your acquaintance.

 

[sorce]

This twist.... this twist....uncroppable!



Caught my eye more than anything as a stand out feature.

The movement in 3 is nice in the first pic, and those branches seem long enough to bring foliage down around that jin which seems the only way not to waste it.
I appreciate your landscape image, but I feel the distance between the "tree" and the jin would take it back to "wasting" that jin, since it would seem to lack Harmony. Though with the right pot....anything is possible.

I'm not a fan of the deadwood into the soil on any of them.
Especially for a beginner who may not need that headache on top of everything else beginning entails.
Do you have a plan to preserve it?
Lime Sulphur?

Without these things, it may go south on you before your shipment comes in.

For that reason I'd consider the cascading one, but it may have deadwood into the soil too, and it doesn't seem to stylable, optionful.

My vote is for 1160194.

6?

I don't know that the order will remain the same across viewing platforms, depending on how the pics load. Though it seems accurate so far.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

You know it's not the DW into the soil, it's the fact that especially 3, cliffs off at the end.

I can't stand that, it makes me very uncomfortable.

The more I think about that long jin, the more I don't think that's a good tree for you. The leverage gained off the end means you'll have to shoot squirrels constantly. Just a lot more things to be prepped for, if it ain't tied in well, you'll start on a rough path.

Blah blah.

Sorce

 

[RoadManDenDron]

I'm not a fan of the deadwood into the soil on any of them.
Especially for a beginner who may not need that headache on top of everything else beginning entails.
Do you have a plan to preserve it?
Lime Sulphur?

Yes a was planning on Lime Sulphur but wasn't sure if I could treat the wood now and then carve it down the line or if LS would have it too hard or brittle or something by then?

I was considering superglue like Harry Harrington but can get LS same place as the tree.

Sorry I'm not sure where you mean cliffs off do you mean on the root DW to soil level? Or somewhere else with the jin/shari?

 

[leatherback]

These Sabina's are often thrive with root issues. Not health-root issues, but roots sprouting from odd locations. I have taken 2 years to get mine from slanting to straight up. So.. Yes, Nebari is important, but expect that you cannot position the tree as you would like. In Spain where these were probably collected, these have a crawling habit with roots along the trunk.

I do like nr 3. The second option I had was this one. Note the crawling trunk hugging the soil, which has the roots on it; Your Nr 3 probably is also rugging the soil with the first section of trunk. Perspective can fool. So check the rest of the pictures for this tree on Grahams site:


My tree went from to, not the extension for higher soil to support the roots along the trunk:

 

[RoadManDenDron]

@leatherback thank you for your reply, you are correct on these being Spanish and Graham's! (I have all the pics but didn't want to confuse the post)
There was another in there looking very similar to yours i was instantly drawn to but was intimidated by the stunning dead side which was also what drawn me to it

Yours is integrated nicely with the foliage and I wish I had seen this sooner for inspiration (its already sold)
standing up the trunk like you have done has changed EVERYTHING for me in a great way, thanks to your advice about roots, is it the optimist in me thinking this could give me potential to build a nebari?(i guess what you described is natural ground layering?)

 

[sorce]

Sorry I'm not sure where you mean cliffs off do you mean on the root DW to soil level? Or somewhere else with the jin/shari?

This looks undercut.


I guess it's not a full "next", it just drives me crazy!

Sorce

 

[HorseloverFat]

 

[leatherback]

Yours is integrated nicely with the foliage and I wish I had seen this sooner for inspiration (its already sold)

One day I will trust myself to wire it. Still not convinced it is really strong. I feel these things need time.

I think with all of them you will have some challenges. Bonsai is not about perfect stock, but about the ability to hide the flaw and optimize the strong points

 

[RoadManDenDron]

I think with all of them you will have some challenges. Bonsai is not about perfect stock, but about the ability to hide the flaw and optimize the strong points

This is what I needed to hear,

I find it is often a 'flaw' that draws my attention to a tree in the first place so far but maybe this will develop as I progress