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.