I can not decide where to begin with my Junipers

I've had these junipers a number of years growing in these wooden boxes that are beginning to rot. I have to do something with them this year but I have no idea where to start. I don't have much experience finding the design for a tree and I find it very very hard visualizing the outcome of cutting the branches. I've read hours and hours of written information and have looked at thousands of images of bonsai and juniper, but I still cant make myself start cutting. I think I'm afraid or something. Anyhow, I thought I would ask here. So, If this were yours where would you begin? How would you go about finding the design? etc..? I have 4 of these trees all about 4-5 inches thick at the base all about the same condition. This is the very early spring here where I live in south Alabama near the gulf coast.

We probably need better pictures, taken against a plain background. And maybe a few more of them from different angles and distances. It looks like there are a lot of possibilities.

Are you a member of a bonsai club? At a club, you can get hands-on assistance, rather than us attempting to design a 3-D tree from 2-D pictures.

There are three clubs in the state:

ALABAMA - Birmingham

Alabama Bonsai Society - Meets at Birmingham Botanical Gardens Auditorium, 2612 Lane Park Road, Birmingham, Alabama, the 2nd Monday each month at 7pm. Contact: Oscar Ethridge, President, by telephone (205) 414-3900 or by E-mail. We are a group of individuals that seek the pleasure of creating and maintaining Bonsai. We enjoy have workshops and experiencing other society members work. We have a spring show with excellent quality trees.
ALABAMA - Decatur/Huntsville

The Living Art Bonsai Society - Meets the first Tuesday of the month at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens on Bob Wallace in Huntsville, AL at 7:00 PM.
ALABAMA - Mobile

Azalea City Bonsai Society - Meets at Mobile Botanical Garden in Langan Park, first Tuesday, 7:30 PM. Started in 1979 specializing in large, single- trunk azalea-bonsai. Shows spring and fall of each year. Host of regional show every third year. Contact: Joe B. Day,(251) 344-5873. Email: acbsbonsai@aol.com

Before any styling they need to be repotted. Now is a good time.

Best,
Dorothy

Ditto for what Dorothy said.

As for your styling question, what do find interesting about the material? Follow the trunk line and see what you can build off that because I see a nice little tree in there.

I'm going to try to get better photo's and post them soon.

I will most likely re-pot them into slightly smaller pots this weekend and at that time will look them over and try to conceive of some way to precede then. I'm a pretty creative person so I cant understand why I have had so much trouble here. I think it's more fear of doing damage to them than anything else. Also, I might do some sketches of the trunk and all the main branches and see if that might help get started.

Much as I would like to joining a club isn't in my cards right now either.

Thanks for the tips. We'll see what happens.

There is a great club in Mobile Al. You should seek them out! There are some great bonsai artist there that would love to have your company!

Mitch Thomas

dorothy7774 wrote:Before any styling they need to be repotted. Now is a good time.

Best,
Dorothy

i always do totally the opposite - how do you know what pot style to chose until you style the tree ? there is a cascade tree in there, a semi cascade and many upright options - always style a settled tree first, assess it then chose the right style and shape of pot to suit your design.

if you go and do a full repot now the tree needs to recover, then you hit spring/early summer and you cant safely wire the tree as you will lose branches or sections of branches if the sappy bark seperates from the inner wood.

can we have more pictures of the entire trees pls

cheers Marcus

not trying to add to your fear of styling, but i have to point out murphy's law of juniper bonsai styling...any branch removed during styling will be needed for a jin later...

like i said, not trying to paralyze you more, just pointing out that when styling junipers, its good to take into consideration jin and shari...

also, about the repotting...i think both sides are valid when it comes to these trees...they need to be repotted since they havnt been in a long time...but, with any kind of drastic styling (as the case with first stylings) it is usually better to do it with a tree that has had a chance to become established rather than something that was just transplanted...i would be tempted to let them go another year without transplanting and do the styling this year, but thats just me.

My recommendation: Health first - Bonsai tree second.
Repot these trees! I personally would put them in pond baskets or in large (oriental type) plastic colanders. Work the roots a bit, refresh the soil and with those types of containers, you'll have fine root development that will aid in moving the trees to a future, smaller bonsai pot.
Give it a year, (or two!) and keep looking/studying these trees in their new pots. When it's time, and you have an idea of what those trees may ultimately give you in styling them - go for it!