Which one/s of these junipers to select if you would buy? (pls wait for all pics to load)

Hi there,

Two days ago I stopped by a nursery which had 17-18 junipers in backyard. These junipers were discarded by the owner of nursery since top foliage of most of them has died together with some main branches due to overheat under full sun.
He sell each one for only 3$, however I can buy only 5-6 (may be 7) of them as I have not enough room to store all or most of them (in order to grow for future use).

Before buying some of them, I would like to ask your opinion: which one/s you would select to buy if you have a room only for 5-6 (or 7) junipers?

(Many of them are not so interesting or ready to work on, but I have chance to pot them in the ground or a big pot for future use)

BTW; diameter of the cup used for scaling is approx. 4 inch (10 cm)

Here they are:

TREE-1 (not so interesting, huh?):






TREE-2:




TREE-3:




TREE-4:




TREE-5:




TREE-6 (nice one for shohin? Just have 8-9 inch height):






TREE-7 (this is one of my favorites):






TREE-8 (smallest one: 7,5 inch/18-19 cm height, 1,6 inch/4 cm thickness):






TREE-9:






TREE-10:






TREE-11 (another favorite of mine):






TREE-12 (I like this one also):








TREE-13 (another small & cute):




TREE-14:






TREE-15 (two main branches going upward are dead. Not so interesting material but may be sumo shohin?):




TREE-16:




TREE-17:






TREE-18:






Thank you for your patience to look at all of them.
Your opinions and advices are highly appreciated.

Taner

4, 6. 8. and/or 14.

Trees 4,8, perhaps 11 and 12 if you pick the right branches, 14 and 15 might be interesting...just my vote

#13 & 15 thats it . all others have no trunk taper wich would be very dificult to reamedy

4 - looks promicing
12 - most bits to play with
18 - best trunk movement

i'd leave the rest and certainly wouldnt buy 6 or 7 just because they are cheap, one quality tree is so much better than 10, or even 100, poor ones. Also if your total space to put more trees is 6 or 7 you need to keep space for other trees that you haven't seen yet

cheers Marcus

8-11-12-18 because the all have shohin potential

JimLewis wrote:4, 6. 8. and/or 14.

GašperG wrote:Trees 4,8, perhaps 11 and 12 if you pick the right branches, 14 and 15 might be interesting...just my vote

-keith- wrote:#13 & 15 thats it . all others have no trunk taper wich would be very dificult to reamedy

marcus watts wrote:4 - looks promicing
12 - most bits to play with
18 - best trunk movement

i'd leave the rest and certainly wouldnt buy 6 or 7 just because they are cheap, one quality tree is so much better than 10, or even 100, poor ones. Also if your total space to put more trees is 6 or 7 you need to keep space for other trees that you haven't seen yet

cheers Marcus

vossertje wrote:8-11-12-18 because the all have shohin potential

Thanks for your time & precious advices! I really appreciate!

I see that the number 4, 8 and 12 are primary choice of IBC folk, and 11, 14, 15 and 18 are secondary.

Now, I certainly agree with you and want to buy 4, 8 & 12, but uncertain about the others.

I like no. 7 too, but I see that none likes it, why?
Also I am curious about why none (except vossertje) prefers no. 11? (hard to play with?)
And dont know what to do with no. 15 if I buy (I will probably not buy it).

I also like 13, 14 & 18 (good trunk movement like marcus said!).

Now:
4 - 8 - 12 are OK! I will exactly buy them
Just thinking about 7, 11, 13, 14 & 18!

May I learn more about your taste (and take your comments) regarding 7, 11, 13, 14 & 18?

Thanks
Taner

Tree 7, some nice foliage, but too much straight trunk and the angles are too abrupt/sharp with a trunk that thick those flaws will be very difficult/impossible to remedy.

marcus watts wrote:
i'd leave the rest and certainly wouldnt buy 6 or 7 just because they are cheap, one quality tree is so much better than 10, or even 100, poor ones. Also if your total space to put more trees is 6 or 7 you need to keep space for other trees that you haven't seen yet

cheers Marcus

Marcus,

Actually I will not take them to home or my garden.
I was thinking about buying only 1 or 2 of them, but the owner of the nursery (btw, it is not a bonsai nursery) allowed me to grow, treat & deal with those (that I will select & buy) in his backyard. He said "I love bonsai, and would like to see what you will do with them, so you are free to use my backyard for this purpose".
But this space is limited & not enough for more than 5 or 6 junipers (plus I will bring one of them to my home of course )

Does this info change your opinion about other junipers?

Thanks
Taner

Billy M. Rhodes wrote:Tree 7, some nice foliage, but too much straight trunk and the angles are too abrupt/sharp with a trunk that thick those flaws will be very difficult/impossible to remedy.

Thanks for your comment Billy
It does not seem so straight to me - may be due to fact that I take a fancy to it
It has a good nebari a bit also under soil surface. And I think to work jins on those flaws (not to try to remedy or heal them) if I buy it.
However, I will revise my opinion about this one in the light of your comments.

Thanks
Taner

You have only so much time and energy, it is wise not to waste it on material that will never amount to anything, even if the material is free.

Billy M. Rhodes wrote:You have only so much time and energy, it is wise not to waste it on material that will never amount to anything, even if the material is free.

Yes, you are right about it!

Taner,

They are all Ugly, buy them all!

For 3$ each, I would buy them all,,,though, they are all useless for bonsai. None got any interesting future for individual bonsai. except for #18, for a literati.

...but I can see a good future for all of those straight trunk trees as group planting/forest composition. don't cut those dead upper branches, they can be used as Sharis and Jins. some trees got 1 or 2 shoots they are perfect for outer trees in a group planting.


regards,
jun

Been there done that department.

Beginners tend to buy too much that will never develop into anything, experienced growers are more careful about what they buy. One fellow I knew said he would not buy a potential bonsai that cost less then $100 USD retail. I have come, after about 40 years, to agree with him.

I bought dozens of chinese elm mallsai a few years ago for 5$ each.

Some of them end up here...




Some are here...




One end up here.



Mostly ended up in my biggest elm forest...You can check it out here in IBC..


another set of a few $ per piece juniper...



Invest on creativity first, if you want to save on trees.


regards,
jun

jun wrote:Taner,

They are all Ugly, buy them all!

For 3$ each, I would buy them all,,,though, they are all useless for bonsai. None got any interesting future for individual bonsai. except for #18, for a literati.

...but I can see a good future for all of those straight trunk trees as group planting/forest composition. don't cut those dead upper branches, they can be used as Sharis and Jins. some trees got 1 or 2 shoots they are perfect for outer trees in a group planting.


regards,
jun

Hi jun,

Thanks for your comment & encouragement.
I wish I could have a big garden to buy all of them (so I could use all of these materials as a learning curve), however I have only a big balcony (terrace) where I am also trying to reserve some space for future possibilities that I've not seen yet (as marcus suggested).

Therefore, I have a chance to bring only 1 or 2 of them to home, and I have an opportunity to work on 5 or 6 of them in backyard of this nursery which is close to my home. So, I am limited with 6 or 7 junipers at most

So, could you please vote on 6 or 7 of them for me
(Be careful! Your choices may influence my decision radically, haha)

Thank you for your time
Taner

Sekiz.

memet wrote:Sekiz.

"Sekiz = 8"

It was a difficult translation for me, I used google translation to overcome this hard task, haha

Thank you memet