Tree Identification please?

JDK

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My name is Joe I am new to bonsai, like completely new. A couple months ago I purchased some house plants from a very nice Korean woman. One of these plants was a tree in a bonsai pot. I did not intend to purchase a bonsai but I have fallen in love with the little tree. I really know nothing about this tree other than she told me she brought the seeds back from Korea years ago and started the tree with intentions to bonsai. It is quite a beautiful tree and have not seen anything like it in photos. I have searched high and low.

I have purchased a few books by Peter Chan, Dan Barton and Masakumi Kawasumi. I would love to learn this art and have been reading as much as I can.

I would like to start by identifying the tree?

I am in the Cleveland, Ohio area and I have searched for some clubs online and facebook but without much luck. Does anyone know of any local clubs I could find to gain some knowledge?

Any and all help would be much appreciated!
 

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Solaris

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Hrm. With that bark and those needles, I rather want to say it's a juniper of some sort. I do hope you're not planning on keeping it inside, are you?
 

Solaris

Shohin
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I would take his guess over mine. Conifers aren't exactly my area of expertise.

EDIT: I like it for boulevard cypress, after Googling the tree.
 
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JDK

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I plan on moving outside in the spring... 21'F today.
Still trying to learn if and how I keep it outside during the winter but protected? It was 3 degrees a few weeks ago
 

_#1_

Omono
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It might be a good idea to go back and ask her where she had been keeping it prior to the sale.

And welcome aboard!
 

Solaris

Shohin
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They're apparently hardy to zones 4-8, so while it won't be happy if you stuck it outside now (trees take time to adjust to the cold) you can probably safely leave it outside over the winter next year. Roots are a bit more sensitive to cold than the top growth, so you may want to bury the pot and mulch it to protect it from the cold.
 

JDK

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It might be a good idea to go back and ask her where she had been keeping it prior to the sale.

And welcome aboard!

It was late summer and I spotted it on her patio so it had been outside when I bought it. She was selling tons of plants and trees and her house was filled with Korean pumpkins that she eats. I was pretty overwhelmed but it was definitely outside. I may have her phone number some where but she moved to Florida, hence the plant sale.
 

Barry

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definitely boulevard cypress. I have one, its been outside every winter for the past 7 or 8 years. I'm in central NJ and just have it protected from wind.
 

Japonicus

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cbroad and Barry are correct Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Boulevard'.
The blue green foliage feels dampish to the fingers when touched.
At least the nebari is off to a good start. There's some good Boulevard bonsai, but I never enjoyed working
with the 2 or 3 I tried. They're more commonly used in landscape, especially "pom pom" trees.
Left to grow, it can get quite leggy and droop. They seem to dig up and move ok too. The one I dug and moved to
my Moms house 7 yrs ago has sky rocketed out of reach to trim. Need a ladder now at 9+ ft. Was maybe 4 ft when I dug it.
 

JDK

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Thanks for the id
The woman who I bought this from was very adamant that this tree came from Korea. Her English was not very good so I wish I could have gotten more information from her but there was a definite language barrier.
I will begin to research boulevard Cypress and go from there.
Thanks again
 
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boulevard cypress, hard as nails in the UK, I turned a garden tree into a quite desent looking cloud tree. They take pruning no problem I prune mine with electric hedge trimmers if you trim too short behind all the green they still comer back so should be fine for a bonsai and much better treatment. Good luck. Best be aware the light blue goes when you prune them, constant pruning and they turn green
 

CasAH

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This is a boulevard forest at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
 

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cbroad

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Plus they shed interior foliage like nothing I've seen before, so I think it would be important to keep the canopy somewhat airy to allow more light penetration and air flow.
 
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