Another Procumbens Cascade Just What the World Needs

[MSU JBoots]

I had the itch to get a new tree and I’ve found I have a penchant for junipers so I wanted a Procumbens Nana. The local nursery was having a fall sale, lucky me. After searching through about 30 options I picked this one.

I bought it almost certain it would be a cascade. It had 2 very nice options for a cascading branch. I spent a couple hours or so working it tonight and here’s how it ended.



I only wired out the branch I pushed up to be an apex, the two primary cascading branches, and the jins. I really didn’t cut much else off the tree and there’s a lot hiding under that sweatshirt. I’m pretty happy so far and think this is the future of the tree. However I’m not sure if I should:
1. Play around with what’s left under the shirt.
2. Leave it to help the tree recover.
3. Lop most of it off and turn it into some jins.
I’ve found im typically quite conservative with styling so I had planned to be aggressive with this tree so I was leaning toward option 3.

 

[SouthernMaple]

good job, i love cascades. I usually wire them head to toe then sit back, take lots of pictures and go from there. Something that doesn't look good now might later after it has been all wired up. Also if you cut something off its gone, so no going back.

Remember bonsai is a long game, no need to rush your decisions and if you are unsure come on here and continue to ask questions.

I love junipers but i have a hard time with precombens because I am allergic to them, they make my hands itch and break out.

 

[MSU JBoots]

good job, i love cascades. I usually wire them head to toe then sit back, take lots of pictures and go from there. Something that doesn't look good now might later after it has been all wired up. Also if you cut something off its gone, so no going back.

Remember bonsai is a long game, no need to rush your decisions and if you are unsure come on here and continue to ask questions.

I love junipers but i have a hard time with precombens because I am allergic to them, they make my hands itch and break out.

Thanks I don’t have any cascades so I’m happy to add one to the collection. Sound advice. A lot of the foliage is too juvenile and not lignified so I can’t wire it. I likely will work on it more during my sons nap today and trim/wire the other cascading branch. Who knows maybe I can air layer it off in the future and have two trees from this one. I also think I’ll keep the rest of the foliage to fatten up the trunk.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Nice material!

I think you may want to induce some more bends and movement in that one long cascading branch.

 

[MSU JBoots]

Nice material!

I think you may want to induce some more bends and movement in that one long cascading branch.

I think you’re right. It was getting late and I was gun shy after snapping one of my jins twice. I’ll try to fix that when I work on it again today.

 

[MSU JBoots]

Put some more bend in the branch I worked on this weekend and cleaned out the other cascading branch to see what I have to work with.

Perhaps I’ll find time to wire out the rest of the tree this week. However, I have to be careful as I cracked the base of the second main cascading branch this weekend when I was manhandling it early on. I tied the crack tight with some raffia so I think it should heal fine.

It has one small natural bend but could use some more movement.

 

[MSU JBoots]

Repotted this into some suitable bonsai soil and a pond basket this weekend. I think the repot went quite well but as is my style I went a little farther than the initially planned half bare root. Mostly because the center rootball was so loose the soil just kept falling out. I feel pretty good about it’s chances though. Here it is before I starting messing with it.


Here it is after I teased out the roots. I left a portion of the right side mostly undisturbed.

Here is the final result.

 

[MSU JBoots]

Reworked this tree and started narrowing in on the final design. There is still another cascading branch hidden under the t shirt but it’s basically a sacrifice at this point. It could use some more detail wiring as I basically have only wired the pads and crown of the upright trunk.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

I find what is hidden to be the most interesting and fluent movement in the tree. Is there foliage under there? If so, then that’s your new tree.



For example:

You could even tilt for a more upright movement:

Many, many options arise.


Otherwise, you will need to choose one of the two cascading branches to be the Cascade. They both have interesting movement (but only as individuals, not together—not complimentary to each other).

If you’re able to compress/compact/condense the long curvy apex up top down lower towards the cascade, that would be very nice. Especially as the tree grows and thickens. Tremendous potential here.

 

[MSU JBoots]

I do

I find what is hidden to be the most interesting and fluent movement in the tree. Is there foliage under there? If so, then that’s your new tree.

View attachment 563632

For example:
View attachment 563633
You could even tilt for a more upright movement:
View attachment 563634
Many, many options arise.


Otherwise, you will need to choose one of the two cascading branches to be the Cascade. They both have interesting movement (but only as individuals, not together—not complimentary to each other).

If you’re able to compress/compact/condense the long curvy apex up top down lower towards the cascade, that would be very nice. Especially as the tree grows and thickens. Tremendous potential here.

I agree that the upward initial movement of that other trunk is interesting than the flat start to the current primary cascading branch. I have not eliminated it yet as the future. I also have already brought the crown down more but would like it compact it even more as you suggest. I likely needs a guy wire. Maybe I will add it this fall while it is still relatively thin and pliable.

 

[MSU JBoots]

This is one of my favorites trees but the future still perplexes me. Pictures don’t really do it justice.

This was the original planed front with the cascading branch to the far right eventually removed.

As you can see the front cascading branch has some decent movement.

This is the second possible cascading branch. The initial part of this branch has much more interest as the previous post suggested.

The view from the top shows some subtle movement as well. I rather like the crown that rises above the pot that shades the fox my son and I painted but realize that too might be left out of the future design. For now I’ll just continue to stare at it, appreciate it for what it is now and ponder its future.