Styling advice need for semi cascade

bonsai dave

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I need help / advice on what to do with my semi cascade juniper I have had for s few years now. I only one for now but I’ll post more pictures in tomorrow.
 

Potawatomi13

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Like looks of most of tree:D! However glaring fault is straight boring main trunk. Personally would remove branches over time to leave only lowest branch as future trunk and greatest possibility of developing interesting trunk;). Other possibility is to plant as yard shrub.
 

Wilson

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I can picture this one growing off a rock ledge, as I am hiking up a mountain. I dig it! Maybe in the future you could exaggerate the angle a bit more, and have a bit of the larger roots exposed a bit. I feel it would give even more of a natural look of a trees clinging to the mountainside, and take our eye away from the straight part. Good material either way, enjoy!
 

sorce

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All you gotta do is hide that spot where all three branches emerge.

Crank that top down to reposition your triangle, hide some of the straight part of the trunk.....and keep on keeping on!

Rewatch a couple Bjorn Juniper vids....

Then coax it out!

I sure wouldn't spend 2-3 hundred dollars on a yard shrub! But I would on this!

Healthy!

Sorce
 

KingJades

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Wiring some interest into the longer, straight regions of the branches would be nice, if you're able to.

I also feel that the lowest branch extends downward too much and instead should also have movement outward away from the trunk as well as downward.
 

bonsai dave

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Like looks of most of tree:D! However glaring fault is straight boring main trunk. Personally would remove branches over time to leave only lowest branch as future trunk and greatest possibility of developing interesting trunk;). Other possibility is to plant as yard shrub.
Yes I agree about the straight trunk and I need to figure out a better angel when I repot it. But I won’t turn this 20 plus year old cutting in to a yard shrub.
 

bonsai dave

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I can picture this one growing off a rock ledge, as I am hiking up a mountain. I dig it! Maybe in the future you could exaggerate the angle a bit more, and have a bit of the larger roots exposed a bit. I feel it would give even more of a natural look of a trees clinging to the mountainside, and take our eye away from the straight part. Good material either way, enjoy!

Thanks for the reply.
I have thought about growing it on a large rock and I have finally found a piece big enough to make it look as natural as possiable.
 

bonsai dave

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All you gotta do is hide that spot where all three branches emerge.

Crank that top down to reposition your triangle, hide some of the straight part of the trunk.....and keep on keeping on!

Rewatch a couple Bjorn Juniper vids....

Then coax it out!

I sure wouldn't spend 2-3 hundred dollars on a yard shrub! But I would on this!

Healthy!

Sorce
Thanks for the reply. Yes I agree once I hid the straight branches it will look a lot better. Which videos of Bjorn are you referring to ? I have taken the past few year to getting my trees healthier before I work on them.
 

bonsai dave

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Wiring some interest into the longer, straight regions of the branches would be nice, if you're able to.

I also feel that the lowest branch extends downward too much and instead should also have movement outward away from the trunk as well as downward.

Thanks for the reply. I have already reduced the length of the trunk it was lot longer before. I’ll work on hiding the straightness of the truck in a few weeks when I start reporting
 
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..
I need to figure out a better angel...
I'm always looking for a better angel.

You're getting good advice. The trunk could meander up and down like it does side to side just not as dramatically. Placing the pads where they get good light, air and room to fill a shape.

Give the trunk a little twist before you wire it in order to discern which way it wants to move. This can determine which way to coil the wire, clockwise or counter clockwise. If you go with the flow the fibers of the wood will tighten as you twist allowing for more meandering and proper placement of the pads to fill 3 dimensional space. You can compact the tree with less breakage as well.

Finally, it's top heavy. Define the crown and reduce the vigor as well as the sense of mass on the top.

Good growing.
 

sorce

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branches it will look a lot better. Which videos of Bjorn are you referring to ? I have taken

Any ... All? We Got time!

I like his cuz there is no explanations in most. . .
He slays J's.

And them.....just quick before and afters are great brain trainers.

Sorce
 

0soyoung

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IMHO, this is 'good material' (meaning I think I can easily make it into a decent bonsai), @bonsai dave .

Regarding the #1 problem, the long straight trunk: it can, in effect, be eliminated visually by placing some foliage in front of part(s) of it - one then sees only a short straight piece of trunk, then it disappears behind some foliage, maybe gets glimpsed again before 'the eye' gets to the top most point. You have quite a bit of foliage that can easily be positioned to accomplish this, regardless of whatever else you would like to do. Making an apex (a green helmet) in the area of where the trunk bends downward would keep this from looking contrived.

Then I think you just need to form the series of foliage puffs into pads on cascading branches. Keep thinner stuff and make the pads smaller/thinner in back to affect the illusion of depth and make these cascading limbs be dramatic so it is the visual focus is the design. Easy/peasy - just a season or two of fiddling to get it right (unless you are a pro that can do it in an hour or two).

Also, I would look for a deep rectangular pot (one that would have one end nearly under where the trunk bends down and the other only so far to the right as necessary to just accommodate the roots). I think 'the eye' can be fooled into 'believing' the whole image is more compact than it really is - I guess a pot in the neighborhood of 6 inches deep (you again get the fun of finding the right one).

... okay, that was easy. :rolleyes:
next!
;)
 

Justis

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I would start wiring out the lower branches making some nice pads an just go from there. That’s what I do with material like that then it normally will start to come together.
 

petegreg

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Thanks for the reply’s. Here a few more pictures.

The second picture, hmmm, I can't see inside the tree well, but I bet there's some gentle movement in the lower trunk that is not visible from other sides. I would probably start with this view, minimize the top of three (jinning/removing top trunk), make a new top comming from the cascading portion of the tree...and yes, pads.
 
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