Gold Coast Juniper

[MSU JBoots]

I got this juniper back in May of 2022 and jumped right into working it. It was originally showed in my diary of a noob post but I thought I would start its own thread as well. Here it is as purchased.

Here it is after the initial pruning and wiring.

It has been growing like gang busters and I had to remove some wire that was cutting into today. I plan to further reduce the primary branching this fall and potentially repot it next spring in suitable bonsai soil since it’s still in the original nursery can and soil.

 

[Esolin]

It's off to a good start! I hope it does well. I bought a Gold Coast a few years back and mishandled it badly (bad repot, over watered) until it became weak. It has proven leggy and unruly ever since, discarding any branches that I put wire on. I don't know if it's because it's still recovering, or if that's just a trait of the cultivar. Giving it a little more time to see. Maybe you'll have better luck.

 

[MSU JBoots]

Forgot to post the updated pic. Here it is today.
Definitely could use a trim this fall but I might leave the extra foliage for the winter hardiness and to help recover from the repot.

 

[MSU JBoots]

Finished what admittedly was a fairly aggressive repot. I set out with the intention of a half bare root. However to fit it in this pond basket I had to reduce the rootball more than anticipated. I did leave one side mostly untouched except to tease some roots out to hopefully grow into the inorganic soil. A large part of the reduction was off the bottom. Looking at the before and after I apparently and unintentionally changed the planting angle slightly which has really made the apex and first branch move more to the right. I shall see how it fairs this growing season.

 

[MSU JBoots]

This tree has kept chugging away so I decided to get aggressive again with a redesign. Here it was all shaggy prior to the cut back.

This is where it was post pruning.

Final product post wiring with proposed future planting angle.