California Juniper With One Branch

[Brian Underwood]

I purchased this juniper in 2012 or 2011 for $50 at the REBS member sale. It was potted in a VERY tall terracotta pot, in some bad soil, and looked to be in poor health. I thought I would take a gamble and bought it, because hey, you never find a Cal Juni for $50! For the last couple years I have been nursing it back to health and I decided this year it was time to make the changes I have been thinking about all this time. I re-potted the tree in February of this year in a Jim Gremel Namban pot in some of his famous premixed Japanese soil. The tree has ONE branch coming off it, but it looks to have had many live veins in the recent past that have died off. This single branch was brittle and very long/lanky as you can see in the pictures.

 

[Brian Underwood]

I knew what I wanted to do with the tree since day one, and now that school is finally out for the summer, I took it up to Jim's workshop. The branch was thinned by removing some of the deadwood to make it easier to bend, wrapped in raffia, then wire was applied. One #10 copper on the outside of the bend, then wrapped with #10 copper all the way up. It was bent into place using this and two guy wires. Luckily I didn't hear any *crack* sounds while bending, so I think it will be okay. The rest of the foliage was wired to match the tree's strong left movement. Much work will be done on the already pretty good deadwood in the near future, but for now the tree will be left to rest and grow.

I'll be taking some more detailed photos this week. Enjoy!

 

[JudyB]

Deal of the year!

 

[october]

Awesome tree! Great job in brignig out a nice image. This could be one of the best deals ever in the bonsai world.

Rob

 

[Poink88]

Nice purchase and styling.

Have you considered grafting?

 

[Brian Underwood]

Haha! Thanks all!

Poink; yeah, I always CONSIDER grafting, and then I opt for native foliage. I'm sort of a sucker for native/natural trees since I've lived in California my entire life. Plus, the live vein is only about 1/4" and grafting may not be the best idea. Do you suggest that to create new branches? Or to replace native foliage?

 

[Poink88]

Haha! Thanks all!

Poink; yeah, I always CONSIDER grafting, and then I opt for native foliage. I'm sort of a sucker for native/natural trees since I've lived in California my entire life. Plus, the live vein is only about 1/4" and grafting may not be the best idea. Do you suggest that to create new branches? Or to replace native foliage?

Either.

I will do it to replace though (personal preference).

 

[Brian Underwood]

yeah, most people do, including Jim. I guess it's just my preference to have native foliage.

 

[october]

I like the foliage the tree has. There are a couple of huge CA junipers at the bonsai nursery here. I think they have kept them for about 10 years. Which is an amazing feat considering we are in the Northeast. I enjoy looking at their unique foliage, especially since those are like the only 2 in the entire region. What needs to be mentioned is that the foliage on the tree in this post has not been trained. When it is, it will look neater and more compact.

It is a beautiful tree.

Rob

 

[coh]

Great find! I like the initial styling and look forward to future developments (and close ups of the work you did to bend that branch).

As for grafting to replace foliage...I'm of the opinion that if you can use the natural foliage to make an effective tree, you should. We already have like a million shimpaku-grafted-onto-some-other-juniper-deadwood trees out there, I'd like to see something different.

Chris

 

[GrimLore]

Myself I would do as you are doing - leave that wonderful bend until unbound. Then after even a couple more years carve and style. I "think" in this case you made a GREAT choice to let it be what it wants with a minimal amount of intervention. Let it do as it wants now and be very happy for what it is - just beautiful. The years will depict what is/or not needed.

Great specimen

Grimmy

 

[Brian Underwood]

More pictures!

Here are the rest of the pictures of the final image after initial styling.

 

[Brian Underwood]

Here are some close-ups of the wire job and major bend.

 

[GrimLore]

Really nice work You are most certainly going forward with this Specimen - Please keep me updated

Grimmy

 

[KennedyMarx]

Nice bend! I have yet to bend anything so much so when I see something like this I'm always surprised at how radically you can alter a tree.

 

[Brian Underwood]

Yeah, I had actually gotten away with never needing to use raffia with any of my bends until now. It's actually part of why I bought the tree, so I could practice that necessary bonsai skill. Like many things in bonsai, it was scary at first, but now it's seemingly so simple and easy. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, and it's now just another tool I have in my proverbial bonsai toolbox which can be used to make a nice tree even nicer.