40+ Year old mystery Juniper hedge

[BonsaiBay]

Hi All,

While the pictures aren't great, does anyone know what type of juniper this is and it's viablility for good bonsai foliage? They are planted in a mobile home park and I was just given permission to take what I want before they rip everything out, including a fruit tree. I was shown photos of the property from the 70's and the junipers were already fairly health looking in the ground about 2 feet tall. Any other advise would be greatly appreciated also.

Thank you,

BonsaiBay

 

[Mike Hennigan]

If you can take some close up shots of what the foliage looks like I think people could give you a better ID.

 

[BonsaiBay]

Sorry, my tablet wouldn't let me upload anymore pictures so I had to switch to my computer and will upload a couple more in a moment.

 

[BonsaiBay]

 

[BonsaiBay]

If you can take some close up shots of what the foliage looks like I think people could give you a better ID.

The other two photos are up. I hope they help. Again, they are not the best.

Thanks,

BonsaiBay

 

[Mike Hennigan]

I’m not really the go to juniper ID person, but now that those photos are up hopefully someone else can chime in.

Something to keep in mind: if for some reason this is a variety with difficult foliage you can always graft better foliage on. I imagine that there are some nice trunks in there if it’s as old as you say. So probably worth collecting even if you graft new foliage on later.

 

[BonsaiBay]

I’m not really the go to juniper ID person, but now that those photos are up hopefully someone else can chime in.

Something to keep in mind: if for some reason this is a variety with difficult foliage you can always graft better foliage on. I imagine that there are some nice trunks in there if it’s as old as you say. So probably worth collecting even if you graft new foliage on later.

That's what I was thinking.

 

[Michael P]

My best guess is Juniperus chinensis 'Pfitzer's Dwarf' or a similar cultivar. These are very durable and common landscape shrubs.

 

[Lazylightningny]

My best guess is Juniperus chinensis 'Pfitzer's Dwarf' or a similar cultivar. These are very durable and common landscape shrubs.

The foliage looks fairly tight. Might make a good specimen.

 

[thomas22]

I would dig those up in a heartbeat.

 

[just.wing.it]

I would dig those up in a heartbeat.

Agreed!

Good find!

 

[BonsaiBay]

My best guess is Juniperus chinensis 'Pfitzer's Dwarf' or a similar cultivar. These are very durable and common landscape shrubs.

Thank you, about what I was expecting. I do have one of these from an original Home Depot purchase a couple years ago when I first got into bonsai. I look at that thing everyday thinking "what the hell am I going to do with you". It's not the most inspiring tree.

@Lazylightningny let's hope it stays that way. I'm expecting to need to graft in the future though but only time will tell.

@thomas22 @just.wing.it. I'll be heading over in a little bit to do my first real exploration into the trees today deciding which to take which to leave for the demolition crew. I'm hoping to remember to take pictures along the way, if I do I'll post them.

Thank you all for your thoughts,

BonsaiBay

 

[BonsaiBay]

I was only allowed about an hour today at the property. They were a mess underneath. I'll include a photo example in a couple of posts. Unfortunately, the trees butt up against another property's driveway. The rocks in the photos are the driveway. Not sure how I'll dig it them up without digging up part of the driveway, although, it's all rocks and dirt. While I haven't done much digging the roots look massive and makes me nervous for good feeder roots within digging depth. Lower trunk was about 4" thick. I'm hoping to go back Monday for most of the day, clean and plan.

 

[BonsaiBay]

Second tree seemed to be all over the place. After cleaning I'll have a better idea of what to do, if anything.

 

[BonsaiBay]

Third tree, I think the picture from the top view goes with the this tree. Unfortunately, they were taken out of order. I love the trunk that runs from the top left of the photo to the top edge middle down in the back to the bottom left in the top view photo.

 

[BonsaiBay]

There was one trunk I was unable to actually locate because car parked in the way and there may be another two trunks hidden deeper in the tree, we'll see. Most of the tree looks like this inside top to bottom.

 

[BonsaiBay]

After clearing away the surface and getting to the first roots in one of the trees, the trunk doesn't look that impressive and no immediately large nebari and it has a massive reverse taper. What is the communities opinion on digging it up? From the reverse taper up it looks great and i could try air layering it in the future.

 

[CWTurner]

Any chance you could get whoever is doing the ripout (hopefully with power equipment) to gently put these aside for you?
That looks like a lot of hard work.
CW

 

[BonsaiBay]

@CWTurner Unfortunately, it sounds like the guys that are doing the demo love their job and would take joy in destroying them. I wish I could though.

BonsaiBay