Newby... Picked up juniper & japanese holly

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Definitely turning into crazy bonsai lady... Sorry be be million post Larry (hope it's not annoying) but really getting into it! Picked up another cheap juniper old gold to practice pruning and have a go at repotting. Tried not to remove too much. Annoyingly didn't get a photo of original plant, but took throughout the process. Please let me know how I did if you have nothing better to do... And please be honest - I'm a tough old gal I can take it

Put in a photo of how much I took off - too much?
Last photo is how I was thinking of shaping roughly, thinking about ordering some wire. Again let me know what you think, and be honest if it's a pile of shit

Intention was to learn and practice, but obviously I do really want to keep them alive!

Damn lady! When I said those pfizers are nearly indestructible, I didn't mean it as a challenge!

All kidding aside, I think you can learn a bit more about bonsai soil and why junipers like that soil so much. Repotting out of season is what some of us can get away with, and some of us don't. I'm in the "don't" group. But it's too late now I reckon.

I have no right to critique wiring, but I do want to advise you to keep the interior foliage on your junipers. That's the stuff that will become nice and refined branches in the future. We work our way back to the trunk starting from the branch tips, to make those plants look like tiny trees. But if the branch tips are the only foliage left.. Well, that does make things more difficult.

Keep trying, and make good use of that enthusiasm. It'll help you flatten the learning curve, or at least help you make good jumps forward.

 

[Clorgan]

Damn lady! When I said those pfizers are nearly indestructible, I didn't mean it as a challenge!

All kidding aside, I think you can learn a bit more about bonsai soil and why junipers like that soil so much. Repotting out of season is what some of us can get away with, and some of us don't. I'm in the "don't" group. But it's too late now I reckon.

I have no right to critique wiring, but I do want to advise you to keep the interior foliage on your junipers. That's the stuff that will become nice and refined branches in the future. We work our way back to the trunk starting from the branch tips, to make those plants look like tiny trees. But if the branch tips are the only foliage left.. Well, that does make things more difficult.

Keep trying, and make good use of that enthusiasm. It'll help you flatten the learning curve, or at least help you make good jumps forward.

Cheers for this - sound advice! Yeah I mean when I start something, I tend to do the whole all guns blazing thing... I'll learn was just keen to have a go, and I'm sure killing a tree will help me learn to slow down!

You must see these sort of keeno newby posts all the time, so cheers for your patience and humouring us! Give me a few years and I'll have settled down into the swing of it, and hopefully have learned a lot in that time haha

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Hear hear! At least, about the guns blazing part. It took five trees to slow me down. Well, as a matter of fact, it took five dead trees to make me devise ways to not slow down and get away with it.
I got into gardening when I was fifteen years old, nearly fifteen years ago already. It took me a long time to find out how logical plants are, and it took me a longer time to learn how to tell people how logical plants are. Seeing people progress here faster than I did, is part of the fun.
I'll never have prize winning trees, but to me this game is a hobby, not a sport. As long as the trees are healthy, I know what and why I'm doing things and I'm having fun, it's all good. Some people don't agree with that though. Imagine owning a 5000 USD tree, working on it day and night and still lie awake at night being unsatisfied. It can make a person go sour. I go out and get myself a sixpack of 2,50 euro Mugo pines and have a week of fun.
The "I know I shouldn't do this but what if I do" gives people the best lessons. If I ever get kids, that's why they will not get iphones.

As long as everybody is having a good time, I'll have one too.

 

[Clorgan]

Hear hear! At least, about the guns blazing part. It took five trees to slow me down. Well, as a matter of fact, it took five dead trees to make me devise ways to not slow down and get away with it.
I got into gardening when I was fifteen years old, nearly fifteen years ago already. It took me a long time to find out how logical plants are, and it took me a longer time to learn how to tell people how logical plants are. Seeing people progress here faster than I did, is part of the fun.
I'll never have prize winning trees, but to me this game is a hobby, not a sport. As long as the trees are healthy, I know what and why I'm doing things and I'm having fun, it's all good. Some people don't agree with that though. Imagine owning a 5000 USD tree, working on it day and night and still lie awake at night being unsatisfied. It can make a person go sour. I go out and get myself a sixpack of 2,50 euro Mugo pines and have a week of fun.
The "I know I shouldn't do this but what if I do" gives people the best lessons. If I ever get kids, that's why they will not get iphones.

As long as everybody is having a good time, I'll have one too.

I love this! This is exactly my thinking at the moment. I'm at the stage where I just want to get stuck into something! I'm well aware that anything I 'create' now is absolutely going to be junk, but I just want to have a go! I've got an itch that I'm just not sure how to scratch

I love your attitude of doing it for fun - I couldn't deal with the pressure of potentially messing up a beautiful or expensive tree!