From October 28, 2018.

Junipers are the staple bonsai. They are the most well known and recognizable. However, they require different care than most other trees. I was afraid to dip my toes into juniper territory as a beginner, until I saw this beauty.

Isn’t is beautiful? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. Not until I took a peak at the trunkline.

Look at that curve! It is beautiful! This juniper was born to be a bonsai. More specifically, a cascade bonsai. This is when the foliage falls below the pot and flows like a waterfall. This plant already is headed downward. That saves me a few years of training to get it headed downward.

I got this guy on sale at Evergreen for about $10. Yeah, there are some brown/dead parts. That’s okay. I cleaned him up and he looks dashing.

I am waiting until the spring to do any work on it, for many reasons. The kind people as reddit suggested I let it recover, go dormant in winter, and make sure it pushes new growth in the spring. That makes sense. Also, some of the thinner branches may be dead. That’s okay and actually a good thing. Coniferous trees are very well suited to deadwood technique for bonsai, which is when dead parts of the tree are left for an interesting structural and visual contrast. But, I don’t want to style branches that may be dead. So, I am just going to make sure I don’t kill him and revisit him in the spring!