Colorado’s Randy Knight Rocky Mountain Juniper

This RMJ was collected by the great Randy Knight! He sold it to Todd Schlafer and I purchased from Todd in fall of 2021. I believe it was probably collected around 2018.

When I acquired the tree it was laying down in a large black nursery container, like a cascade basically. I wanted to make it an upright tree, so in spring 2022 I repotted it into a Sam Miller round.



I let it recover for the rest of 2022. In spring 2023 I jinned off the furthest section of the tree and styled it into a literati-ish design. However, I wasn’t really happy with it…seemed awkward.



I was talking with @Hartinez about the tree and he suggested a design flowing more to the right. He made this wonderful drawing for the tree!



This helped me realize that the tree really needs to flow to the right. I also came to the conclusion that it would never be a very good tree with that straight and awkward upper section.

I let it grow out all summer this year and then decided to change up the design to a much more compact tree.

Before the work:


After redesign:


I am really loving the new design! I think it gives the trunk a much more powerful proportion. I also feel like the flow is much more coherent. I love looking at it out on the bench!

Here’s a final pic of the RMJ soaking up the sun with a couple smaller trees for size reference:


Cheers!

Really like this final styling .. would be cool if you were able to get sedum or asters to grow on that mound of roots

Nice design. It might be cool if that top branch went over and behind the jin. I can definitely see some ferns or something in front of that root ball, too.

Very nice! I like the movement and deadwood on this tree, great work with it Would you ever consider shortening the top two jins? It's totally just personal preference, however my eyes are drawn to the top jins quite a bit. As the foliage fills out it will be less so. However, the top two jins are fairly straight and long. I'd think if you reduced the visual weight of those jins, it would make the trunk and foliage stand out more making it a more powerful tree. Great work!

Very lovely tree. Nice movement and elegant shape.

Shogun610 said:

Really like this final styling .. would be cool if you were able to get sedum or asters to grow on that mound of roots

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Thanks! That is a great idea about the sedum/asters. That had not crossed my mind to be honest

I’ve been working on slowly reducing that mound. I am going to reduce it pretty significantly next spring and add some moss and maybe I’ll have to addsome little sedums, etc. also!

Ruddigger said:

Nice design. It might be cool if that top branch went over and behind the jin. I can definitely see some ferns or something in front of that root ball, too.

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Thanks! I’m not sure I’d be able to get the primary branch to do that, but I do have a couple smaller ones laid down behind the jin, although hard to see in the photos. I’ll have to take another look and see what would be possible!

yenling83 said:

Very nice! I like the movement and deadwood on this tree, great work with it Would you ever consider shortening the top two jins? It's totally just personal preference, however my eyes are drawn to the top jins quite a bit. As the foliage fills out it will be less so. However, the top two jins are fairly straight and long. I'd think if you reduced the visual weight of those jins, it would make the trunk and foliage stand out more making it a more powerful tree. Great work!

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Thank you very much for the feedback, Jeremiah! Funny you mention those jins - Danny and I were also discussing shortening them.

I am definitely open to reducing them. I like to take my time mulling it over on deadwood decisions since once you shorten it, there’s no going back!

bdmatt said:

Very lovely tree. Nice movement and elegant shape.

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Thank you for the kind words!

DISCLAIMER: As a beginner I always love to see other people's trees and try to critique them to 'perfect' standards - as a learning tool for myself to understand what works and what doesn't for eventually applying to my trees, it is not intended as any criticism of the artist.

I 'think' that the jins on this tree slightly detract from the overall design and i would get rid of them personally. The second trunk section after the first bend appears longer than the first trunk section, filling out the apex foliage should help, and may be worth wiring the apex slightly to the left with this in mind. A slight planting angle rotation of say 10 degrees to the right might also help balance. Please feel free (anyone) to correct me if me critique is just plain wrong!

The deadwood is ace and the tree will just continue getting better!

I dont mind the top jin so much, but the other long straight one is a little distracting. I might shorten it.

Colorado said:

Thank you very much for the feedback, Jeremiah! Funny you mention those jins - Danny and I were also discussing shortening them.

I am definitely open to reducing them. I like to take my time mulling it over on deadwood decisions since once you shorten it, there’s no going back!

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Taking your time on deadwood decisions is smart! You can always reduce, much harder to add!

Tucked away for winter

Beautiful tree! Enjoyed the thread. Any idea where I can find one of Randy's trees?

snowman04 said:

Beautiful tree! Enjoyed the thread. Any idea where I can find one of Randy's trees?

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Thanks! I believe that Randy’s email address has been mentioned/posted before, but I do not have it myself. You may have to do some digging but I believe you can contact him directly. Good luck!

I am digging but with no luck yet...

Does anyone know Randy Knight's email or a way to get in touch would be appreciated!

I’ve always wondered how a RMJ would do in the south east part of the country.
Afraid the high humidity might the death of one.

flor1 said:

I’ve always wondered how a RMJ would do in the south east part of the country.
Afraid the high humidity might the death of one.

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You are right in your assumption. I am reading Bonsai Heresy by Michael Hagedorn and he covers this in great detail!

Great read too...

RMJs grow just fine down in the Southeast. Mine certainly did while I lived there. According to Dirr, they can be found in the landscape as far south as Orlando.
They were much more susceptible to cedar-apple rust and mites, they tended to produce lanky growth, and the deadwood was often covered with algae and needed to be routinely scrubbed.

I'm not sure where my trees would rather be today.

This tree is doing great this spring. I did some minor work on the deadwood. I think the jins are more cohesive now. Putting out spring growth and looking forward to a good growing season!