Need help identifying this juniper

[bdmatt]

Hello all,

I'm fairly new to bonsai and new to this forum so I don't know if this is where I put the thread, but I need help identifying what kind of juniper this tree is. I've attached some photos below. I bought this tree about a month ago from an elderly gentlemen. He had quite a few trees and this one was tucked in the back. I have a few junipers, mostly nanas and prostratas, and this tree looks nothing like them. It's also quite large, the trunk is about 4-5 inches and the canopy is about 5 feet long. The foliage was mostly if not all scale-like until I started doing some pruning and got some needle-like foliage. The foliage isn't very compact, but in some areas (I assume wasn't trimmed by me or the previous owner) has a bit of density. I haven't seen this kind of bark before, it's somewhat flakey. If anyone knows anything about this tree, I would love some help.

Thank you!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Most likely this is one of the many, many varieties of Juniperus chinensis, Generically it looks like a shimpaku juniper. Even if it is not shimpaku, it can be treated like a shimpaku.juniper. The bonsai techniques for all scale foliage junipers is roughly the same.

So just refer to it as a generic shimpaku juniper.

Once the provenance is lost, it is almost impossible to accurately figure out the identity of a juniper from photos alone.

 

[Housguy]

I agree with Leo Matt, treat it like a shimpaku and enjoy! Leo knows what he is talking about!

 

[bonsaianak]

Hey Matt! I just happened to come across this post and I was going through the pictures and thought "that tree looks so familiar!" Are you located in SoCal by any chance?