Red cedar

[grog]

Culling time continues! Eight or nine other J. viriginiana made it into the pile in the back of the truck today, this is one I thought might be worth keeping. They like to throw out new shoots everywhere except where you'd like them it seems, I plan to keep unwanted new growth under control this year. We'll see how that goes Look like a decent start?

 

[Nomiyama]

I like the natural shari on that one, I think in time it will be a nice tree. I have thought about collecting a red cedar, they grow all over around here. All are pretty much ramrod straight, so I am still looking for one with a little more to offer.

 

[grog]

Thanks. It's too bad it takes them so long to get/keep mature foliage. Old, undisturbed trees have soft, vibrant foliage to rival any other juniper.

 

[GerhardG]

Great taste in beer!

 

[Bill S]

I like a nice wheat beer myself.

Grog, I wonder if like a San Jose they pop the juvinile stuff w/ heavy pruning.

 

[october]

Hello grog.. I also think this material has potential.. You had mentioned about keeping unwanted growth under control. In my opinion, this tree is very weak and it should be allowed to grow completely free for about 3 years+. Probably not something you want to hear..However, letting it grow relatively freely will make the tree strong and healthy and ready for styling.. To do any pruning before this time, could be the final nail in the coffin, so to speak.

 

[grog]

I haven't done a search to confirm it but I think even some of the nicer, older J. virginiana I've seen pictures of still have the spiky foliage.

I should have taken a picture before I trimmed off quite a bit of the foliage to see if that would alter how it's health appears. It seems prone to popping buds in clusters, on quite a few of the places I removed the foliage there were 3-5 branchlets. Regardless, given the thumbs ups I'll be cautious with it's health.

Thanks much for the replies.

I love hefe-weissen in general, the Paulaner has an odd bite I'm not a huge fan of.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Having grown up in Iowa, and started my bonsai journey there, I've collected more than my fair share of ERC, and have always been disappointed with their response to bonsai. Good to practice wiring and styling, but the foliage never matures when it's pinched the way we need to for bonsai. Collect all you want and have fun, but don't let them sour you on junipers; shimps are delightfully different to work with.

 

[jk_lewis]

Don't give up on J. virginiana, the eastern red cedar. And as for so-called mature foliage, why worry about it? All junipers aren't Shimpaku (and so many junipers are Shimpaku that it gets a bit boring seeing them after a while). Treat it like a needle juniper, but one with more delicate, fine-textured foliage.

I've only been working on this one a year now and there's a LOT more to be done -- including rounding off the top when I get the rest of the tree where I want it. I'm not shooting for much trunk thickening, as I'm planning to shorten it considerably. I see this tree in a rock planting on a slab at some point in its future. The whole thing would probably not be more than a foot wide. At present, this stands 11 inches over the pot rim. I see it at somewhere between 6 and 8 inches (I guess that means 7 ). I have a couple more of these "boulders" that would be dug into the soil over the slab -- which will be a piece of black shale.

At this point it's too early to determine the "front" so I show two sides. This tree is just starting its spring growth.