Redesign on heritage San Jose Juniper

[NaoTK]

btw I’ve a couple Kishu, shimpaku and nana etc in our yard in mostly full sun. No spider mites up here, with no systemics used.

Dunno about the Portland area.

Cheers
DSD sends

Yeah I've never seen spider mites here either, must be a crazy Californian thing, those crazy Californians.

Have you thought about grafting fudo or one-seed juniper onto it instead of Itoigawa? Fudo is supposed to stay closer to a blue shade. Apparently One-seed juniper foliage behaves really nicely, so you'd at least be keeping it kind-of-native? Plus, we need more people working with native foliage to figure it out like the Japanese have their species dialed in.

No I have zero experience with single seed but making gin with my bonsai sounds fun. The foliage looks sort of like California. I don't know anyone with such a tree near me. I don't think San Jose is an American species either, just a cultivar of Chinensis?

 

[Shogun610]

Yeah I've never seen spider mites here either, must be a crazy Californian thing, those crazy Californians.


No I have zero experience with single seed but making gin with my bonsai sounds fun. The foliage looks sort of like California. I don't know anyone with such a tree near me. I don't think San Jose is an American species either, just a cultivar of Chinensis?

You can drink gin while also making a Jin

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

San Jose juniper is Juniperus chinensis 'San Jose' to China etc.

Beat
DSD sends

 

[Paradox]

If you do decide to graft, get someone with a lot of experience to help you. This tree deserves that much and will leave less to chance. You do not want to be learning to graft on this tree.

It's a really nice trunk.
Like the new front
Disagree with the suggestion to make it windswept. They are just too hard to do well and I don't think it quite fits the movement of this trunk. IMO

 

[Wood]

I don't think San Jose is an American species either, just a cultivar of Chinensis?

I was thinking of RMJ

I know that Bjorn had several J. monosperma yamadori and loved the way they responded to bonsai techniques, but not sure beyond that. I don't think I've had the time to really inspect that foliage up close

 

[Nybonsai12]

I voted no to grafting. IMO this is a really nice tree and special enough on it's own to not require an outfit change.

I thought the first two pics of the tree while very full were pleasing, second pic with new angle is very nice as well. I like shimpakus and green helmets but i think this one is not suited for that route.

 

[IzzyG]

I absolutely love one seed foliage. I have a few of them and they behave extremely well. It’s coarser than RMJ but finer than California. Additionally, it’s more rigid like the California as well. Bjorn often comments on how much he really likes working with the foliage. I do have one of his larger one seed junipers that he grafted itoigawa on but only because of the location of the remaining native foliage (right at the tippy top).

 

[Gabler]

I didn’t say it was. I also didnt say there was something wrong with it, just that I’d be hesitant to do it. The history of it has value, and something I would take into consideration.

@NaoTK how tall is this tree?

I agree that the heritage of the tree has value. I also find it refreshing to see a juniper that isn't a shimpaku or kishu. For those reasons, among others, it would be both a travesty and a tragedy to replace the foliage with that of another cultivar. Don't create another abomination.

It's one thing to chase back some overgrowth and spin the pot to a better viewing angle. It's another to build a Franken-tree.

 

[Ruddigger]

Grafting a wild foliage like Monosperma onto the tree would likely fail.

 

[Wood]

edit: I'm threadjacking, so I'm gonna remove this response and let things get back on track

 

[NaoTK]

I will study foliage types at Nationals this week. There's nothing sacred about the current foliage, and changing it to better behaved foliage doesn't change anything.

Just throwing this out there. Call it a rev1 that doesnt kill any existing branches. Open to suggestions. I want to highlight the motion. I would start the shari in December and have it take 2-3years. It's important to do the shari early because you want the live vein to grow out laterally to give it that moving effect.

I think some branches will be removed to clarify the design as time goes on.

 

[Ruddigger]

I’d steer clear of cutting off that first right branch too much. Thats going to be the most important branch for directionality. I’d like something a bit more subdued to match the natural flow of the trunk.

 

[Maiden69]

One thing to consider is that if you are going with a windswept design, the shari tends to be on the side that gets blasted by the wind. Think about it as a giant sandblaster hitting the tree for years. That should give you a picture of where to design it. If not, carry on. I completely agree with staying away from the barber shop spirals.

 

[NaoTK]

Lots of food for thought. Thank you. I guess I need to decide if I want a crazy Japanese tree or not.

 

[Maiden69]

@NaoTK Don't know if you watch them with your busy schedule, but he explains how he "manipulates" the shari to create what they call "sail" or reliquary", the longer skinny shari that looks like the collected trees.

 

[snowman04]

We have quite a number of juniper varieties at the museum where the Fleet Admiral and I volunteer weekly… and spend a good deal of time working on and viewing these trees year around.

Aesthetically I feel a well designed maintained juniper of any kind can give the viewer a sense of flow …and if done well a sense of awe. I won’t comment on the design change per se as design change is tricky everyone has an opinion.

What I will say for me the new design in the top hamper needs a bit more simplification to give the viewer that deeper sense of flow. Perhaps inadequately put, the design appears to need smoothing out, removal and/or simplification of some elements to open it up now and to make room for the future. Maybe that’s in the works.

imho a well placed, meandering longitudinal Shari or two would help, but not solve this.

Also the sticky wicket are some junipers require a bit more maintenance beyond trimming (old needles on stems, deadwood cleaning, wiring etc) than others and San Jose falls in the former group for me. Just my thoughts on that

Finally, just got a message this weekend that Eric Schrader is selling small itogawa junipers. These could be grafting stock, or contacting him for larger stock, could help get you on the way if you choose to graft. Also Brent at evergreengardenworks has both shimpaku and Kishu gallons availabl.

cheers
DSD sends

If you decide to go this way, I grabbed some from Bonsaify last week... "Eric Schrader is selling small Itogawa junipers." They are great on their own, as I think your tree already is...

 

[IzzyG]

I will study foliage types at Nationals this week. There's nothing sacred about the current foliage, and changing it to better behaved foliage doesn't change anything.

Just throwing this out there. Call it a rev1 that doesnt kill any existing branches. Open to suggestions. I want to highlight the motion. I would start the shari in December and have it take 2-3years. It's important to do the shari early because you want the live vein to grow out laterally to give it that moving effect.

I think some branches will be removed to clarify the design as time goes on.

View attachment 507073

I’m going to echo @Ruddigger’s comment about the bottom right branch. One other consideration is instead of moving the apex back to the left, you could commit it to the right. I’d even go bolder and reduce the left side and weaken the kaishiada(I’m sure I’m spelling this incorrectly). Commit fully to an asymmetrical shift.

 

[NaoTK]

So I grafted this guy up with itoigawa back on Feb 1 with the parafilm stogie method. I went overboard and added something like 40 grafts. Many thanks to @JEads for teaching me how to do this!



By April it was pushing hard and the grafts were already starting to push their way out.



The graft union bulges and rips the parafilm tape


On 420 I began to slowly unwrap my stogies. I like the new look already!

I am a bit shocked how easy juniper grafting is compared to pine or deciduous. It was 100% success on 40 grafts and it only took ~3 months to take. I also grafted three other shohin junipers with branches where I needed them, directly on the trunk. Very powerful technique.

 

[pandacular]

On 420 I began to slowly unwrap my stogies.

Hey, I was doing something similar

This looks great, very well done. Grafting is a superpower.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

So I grafted this guy up with itoigawa back on Feb 1 with the parafilm stogie method. I went overboard and added something like 40 grafts. Many thanks to @JEads for teaching me how to do this!

View attachment 542753

By April it was pushing hard and the grafts were already starting to push their way out.

View attachment 542760

The graft union bulges and rips the parafilm tape
View attachment 542761

On 420 I began to slowly unwrap my stogies. I like the new look already!

I am a bit shocked how easy juniper grafting is compared to pine or deciduous. It was 100% success on 40 grafts and it only took ~3 months to take. I also grafted three other shohin junipers with branches where I needed them, directly on the trunk. Very powerful technique.

View attachment 542762

Really nice job! Hope to do a couple trees next year. Have the grafting stock all ready.

Cheers
DSD sends