jandslegate
Shohin
This is my Spartan Juniper that I've been working on for approximately 2 1/2 years. I got it on clearance from Lowes for around 40 bucks. It was a legitimate full on spiral topiary when I got it. I was curious to work with the material and I wanted to see if I could undo the wrapped around topiary and create something out of it.
I posted last week about this tree because while working on it I cracked on of the upper branches on the canopy. The other image is a top down of it's wound dressing. I was originally going to take this tree to the Eisei-en workshop as I had a lot of questions already prepared for it. I'm actually glad I wound up not being able to take it as there were a fair number of Junipers there that were worlds beyond it.
The big Jin in the middle was from the original main leader and is definitely still a wip in and of itself. There's a new shoot that budded this spring on the back right I hope to develop to give it more depth and balance. It has grown very vigorously and I know it's pretty unkempt but I'm afraid to do too much pruning without knowing for sure what I'm doing. I got brave on another juniper the other day and now I feel like I set it back by over pruning. To be honest, it's a little embarrassing to say but I don't fully 'know' how to develop pads on a Juniper at least beyond this point. So I'm going to seek out some more in depth instruction (less advanced workshop, or in person lessons, maybe Mirai Live) rather than undo what progress I've achieved.
I know it's not great material but Ive learned that sometimes you make the best of what you have because it's all you have and sometimes you can do it because it makes for an interesting journey. Like this isn't a majestic yamadori that has persevered harsh conditions and it will never be a show worthy tree but it still has an interesting story. It has survived it's own harsh conditions like being twisted and scalped into a spiral lawn ornament then left to endure the neglect of a big box store in the winter and then finally hoping it can hold out from the ultimate force of nature, me and my haphazard, learning as I go methods, heh.
I posted last week about this tree because while working on it I cracked on of the upper branches on the canopy. The other image is a top down of it's wound dressing. I was originally going to take this tree to the Eisei-en workshop as I had a lot of questions already prepared for it. I'm actually glad I wound up not being able to take it as there were a fair number of Junipers there that were worlds beyond it.
The big Jin in the middle was from the original main leader and is definitely still a wip in and of itself. There's a new shoot that budded this spring on the back right I hope to develop to give it more depth and balance. It has grown very vigorously and I know it's pretty unkempt but I'm afraid to do too much pruning without knowing for sure what I'm doing. I got brave on another juniper the other day and now I feel like I set it back by over pruning. To be honest, it's a little embarrassing to say but I don't fully 'know' how to develop pads on a Juniper at least beyond this point. So I'm going to seek out some more in depth instruction (less advanced workshop, or in person lessons, maybe Mirai Live) rather than undo what progress I've achieved.
I know it's not great material but Ive learned that sometimes you make the best of what you have because it's all you have and sometimes you can do it because it makes for an interesting journey. Like this isn't a majestic yamadori that has persevered harsh conditions and it will never be a show worthy tree but it still has an interesting story. It has survived it's own harsh conditions like being twisted and scalped into a spiral lawn ornament then left to endure the neglect of a big box store in the winter and then finally hoping it can hold out from the ultimate force of nature, me and my haphazard, learning as I go methods, heh.