Ashe Juniper (Vito Megna tree) design help needed

I have an Ashe Juniper from the great Vito Megna. I've had it for atleast a year now and I have gotten it to green up and have fit it in a nice temporary pot. I am posting two opposite views of the same tree. The first photo is what I think would look like the best front. I need some design recommendations for the shari and for live branch placement. So far I've only found that there is one main live vein, which is somewhat more visible in the second photo. Please photoshop away. I am proud to be able to have this Vito Megna tree and I want to put some great thought into its design. Thanks.

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Second:

Our photoshop folks would probably be able to do more if this were taken in front of a plain background. Personally, I think it will turn out to be something you have to see in 3-D to do it justice, because I suspect the solution will be in a lot of tight bends and swoops.

I guess this tree has been ignored for some time??????

Great trunk on this one. I would only study the tree for the next few years and let it grow freely as it seems to be a bit weak right now. Good luck with it.

i would only add one bend to the upper live section at this stage - picture 2, bend top to the right - as far as you dare ! , use a guy wire to hold it down - and as others say the trree needs lots more foliage to be put through the stress of proper styling

cheers Marcus, and nice to see an unusual species - great lower trunk

I've tried my best at making a better background. This tree looked like one of Vito's last in his collection. He was diagnosed with a disabling disease and he was looking for a good home for it. I am very grateful to him because I've been looking for a yamadori Ashe juniper for a long time to represent Central Texas (being from Texas). I plan on letting this one recover for a few years for sure. I figure some initial planning and slight adjustments during the recovery would be best and I agree with Marcus Watts about the bend on the upper section. Maybe these alternative viewing angles will help. I actually think photo #6 looks like a nice possible front too.?

In 360 deg. fashion
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Hi,

the tree needs to have much more growth before thinking about styling, as already pointed out by others. I'd curl up the top and shorten the long jins, but that's just me - of course

Uh, just saw the additional photographs you posted! Nice material! Have fun and patience!

-Dorothy

Dorothy, you are quite an artist and that rendition looks beautiful! Bending the top already seems to be coming to a consensus, which is what I was kinda feeling just looking at it. I don't think I will have a problem getting it to fill out since I and smack-dab in the middle of Ashe juniper country (Austin). Thanks so much!

Discuspro-
Vito did a lot of collecting along with Bill Cody, Arch Hawkins and others in the area, they really set the mark with collected native material. It's a shame that they're no longer involved in Bonsai (or even with us anymore). There are some others of us now that have kind of taken up the mantle. You should look into joining the Austin Bonsai Society, we do digs every year, sometimes in conjunction with other clubs.
www.austinbonsaisociety.com

That's a great looking base on your Ashe. If it were mine, I would let it get very healthy and bushy before doing any stying to it. Like others have said, the foliage looks pretty sparse and fragile at this point. This one is going to be a slow but rewarding project!

Joey, I have been very close to joining the Austin Bonsai Society but at the moment it would probably be too much to try and fit into my schedule. I'm a full time UT Analytical Chem grad student and I hardly have time to brush my teeth (seriously, no seriously ). For me Bonsai is more of a desperate attempt to keep sane but I have been keeping bonsai for about 15 years now, in Austin. Where do you guys find yourselves doing most of your digs? What is the most common material you find.

Dorthy wow!!! Wish you could paint that foliage on all my junis.

I understand about time.. it can really be a needy hobby, and it sounds like you have your hands full already! Meetings could be one more layer. If you decide to drop by sometime, the schedule is online. If you can, you should come to the State Convention we're hosting in April in New Braunfels - should be fun! www.lsbfconvention2013.com We do all sorts of collecting from Ashe J., Cedar Elms, Tx Persimmons, Oaks, Hackberry and more, and (my favorite) Urban digs where we find old hedging and landscape plants which normally are destined for the dump if we don't step in. Every year is different, sometimes more dig opportunities, other times nearly none.

by Jkd2572 on Sun Dec 16, 2012 10:53 pm

Dorthy wow!!! Wish you could paint that foliage on all my junis.

I agree, great virtual!! And foliage like that isn't impossible on the Ashe. Here is a collected one from the Convention when it was at Fort Worth back in 2010.

I agree on the Texas society's show. I've attended a couple, and they put on a GOOD show.

I wired down the high branch. I've actually done more wiring since this photo to straighten that branch but I figured I'd show an intermediate progression photo. With this branch pulled down and the bare part exposed hopefully that will entice some back-budding there.

I know there is a busy background but I just did some cleaning of the live vein and applied lime sulfur to the deadwood.

Discuspro-
Deadwood should always be meticulously cleaned of old bark, dirt, algae and other debris.. looks like you did a great job of that! The Lime Sulphur should also keep any fungus away. I'm personally not a big fan of stripping all the original bark from collected Ashe, as I think that the natural shaggy bark is part of the character of this species. Plenty do though, and it looks like you did a clean, thorough job. Bending out the branches widely was an excellent idea. I've done this on more than one of mine and it does promote backbudding (though it usually happens only in branch crotches). At some point it looks to me like you'll have to reduce the heavy jins somewhat, but that can wait. I'm sure you already know, but be sure to give it as much light as possible. They're solar hogs!

by JimLewis on Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:07 am

I agree on the Texas society's show. I've attended a couple, and they put on a GOOD show.

Thanks Jim! We're working hard to make next April's show in New Braunfels one to remember! I'll be posting about it in the announcement section soon.