Progression of Juniperus c. "Nick's Compact"

[BonsaiRic]

Would like to share a progression of a nursery-bought Juniperus c. "Nick's Compact" purchased in 2006. I was going to make it a double trunk style but did not like the results. I decided this year to to jin the part that had several straight sections. I'll update when it's wired.

Not sure about the lowest left-hand branch as it is large in diameter...any thoughts?

 

[BonsaiRic]

I placed a guy wire on the live tree to pull it more to the right.

I included two virtuals of the jinned side. It needs more work to spiral the straight section or remove it all together.

 

[bougie nights]

I thought your original composition was rather promising; the two trunks had nice harmony. One of them could have been shortened to provide some movement.

 

[cquinn]

I believe I would have tried to spit them into two trees. The trunk thicknesses were too similiar to be a good soju. I don't like the dead snag, and would take that off. It's too destracting to the living tree. Could have been two nice literatis, now I guess you'll have one nice literati.

 

[BonsaiRic]

These two trunks were tighly intertwined. I wish I could have split them but may have destroyed them both. Thanks for the thoughts guys!

 

[bonsaiTOM]

Ric - the size/thickness of the jinned trunk still bothers me. I think I would reduce it still farther, probably by half, to the main branch on the right - and thinner overall. Currently it seems to draw too much attention from the live tree.

You have a really nice tree started here. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Think you'll ultimately end up reducing the jinned trunk to a very small stub, or removing it altogether. If you leave it, you may be happier with the design if you pull the left trunk to the left instead of trying to balance it over the top of the jin. The story of the jin and the composition become better...why would a tragically damaged and dead trunk be underneath the protection of a canopy of growth? If it was exposed to the elements and "on it's own", while the living portion is leaning off in a different direction, then the story works.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Look at some of these photos as good examples of how deadwood is a part of the natural design:

http://bonsaitonight.com/2009/05/28/utah-juniper/

 

[BonsaiRic]

Thanks everyone! Good thoughts that I will consider.

 

[BonsaiRic]

I've recently grafted shimpaku juniper foliage on all the main branches of this tree. The 'Nick's Compact' foliage was not ever going to be pleasing to the eye. I used approach grafts which I'll give 1-2 seasons to fully take. Once The shimpaku grafts appear to have fused, I place a wire around the grafted branch below the union to choke off the flow of sap back to it's roots and force it to pump energy to the graft union and also wean it from its former roots.

The red arrows in the pic show the 4 potted shimpaku junipers wired firmly to the main tree/deadwood with their branches grafted to the 'Nick's Compact' main branches.