Juniper conundrum

Someone, knowing of my interests, dug this ([b]Juniperus virginiana[/b]) out of her pasture last week. It stands 16 inches tall, has a 1.5 inch base and the beginnings of a very nice surface root system. I do have a survival problem. It came to me wrapped in wet sphagnum. She said it hadn't been out of the ground more than an hour. There was some soil around the roots, but mostly it was wet sphagnum. She's done landscaping so she at least knew to do something to protect the roots. They looked OK.

I've stripped the shari a bit more because there was a splintered branch dangling from that broken off trunk.

Does anyone see anything interesting here? Don't want this to vanish. She'll ask about it.

Oh my. NOW what do I do?

Well sorry for the poor art work (not to good on photoshop, can draw but no scanner) anyways this is the only idea that I could come up with, hope it helps some.

Jim, how flexible is the branch with the foliage?

I have in mind a plan which would involve bending that branch virtually right round on itself but it'd need to be still pretty whippy to do so.

My brutal an honest opinion, give it away ore something.
There is no interesting feature in the tree, why bend and jin to make something no good maybe a tiny bit better???

Sorry not my taste

Kind regards
Peter

It'll bend in the upper 2/3, Fiona.

And I'd toss it if my friend hadn't gone to such effort to "help." You gotta take that into consideration.

If it's any consolation Jim, our neighbour did the same to me. At the time I thought I could do a literati with it, it wouldn't bend. The top snapped off. I kept it alive for 2 seasons and it was flourishing. Robert Steven made a virt for me which had a lot of interest and was surprisingly stunning, the neighbour agreed. Part of the solution was to do a wedge cut to bend the tree, it didn't survive the operation. Like all operations surgery is a risky business and she was not upset. Sh.t happens...

The thread can be viewed here

I was always open with her and explained the virt. <<You can do that?>> I said not without some risk. She said <<if you pull it off, it will indeed be amazing and I might want it back>>. The tree (yours as well as mine) was going to be tossed, so it was no skin off anyones back, keep that in mind.

Jim,
I know your not a conifer guy per se, but please bear with me, if you really want to save it, and maybe even make it into something to be worth saving. I'd find a nice J. communis, J. virginiana, stump, (dead or alive) with good movement and lots of character, (Plenty of these in my area). Strap it to the underside/back and place it at about a 30 degree angle, and bend the supple portion around the trunk to the front of the stump. And of course create a tanuki from it.
I see something along the lines of Bonsai # 4, American Arborvitae, on page 31 of "Outstanding American Bonsai" Clark & Voynovich 1989 Since I don't have the rights to post this pic.

I don’t want to go of the topic, but I have a couple of trees (rather plants) which was either given to me or that I have collected somewhere and now have some emotional attachment to. They will probably never be bonsai. I always struggle with the decision whether to keep them (emotional) or get rid of them (logical thinking). Up to now I’ve kept them, but they are taking up space which I can use for some trees with better potential. Decisions, decisions….

Jaco Kriek wrote:I don’t want to go of the topic, but I have a couple of trees (rather plants) which was either given to me or that I have collected somewhere and now have some emotional attachment to. They will probably never be bonsai. I always struggle with the decision whether to keep them (emotional) or get rid of them (logical thinking). Up to now I’ve kept them, but they are taking up space which I can use for some trees with better potential. Decisions, decisions….

I also have a tree with emotional value, I will never sell or give away this one.
My friend Tony Tickle worked on it last september.
Its a +- 75 year old privet from my late grandfathers hedge.
But one hase to keep in mind, what people want to give you, they think its great but kindly say no (you have to learn that)
Otherwise you will be swamped with trees with no future in bonsai.


Kind regards
Peter

Jim...ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..... wire it stick it in a 'bonsai' pot and call it a bonsai...

Only 72 Days left

If forced to keep this, I'd be thinking along the lines of a candelabra type form. The image I'd be going for would be an old larch or spruce, somewhere up a mountain, with branches bent down by winter snow. Storms or lightning destroyed the original apex, and one of the branches grew up to form a new one.

I'd use the view with the big shari as the front.
Cut the green portion about halfway up, near a convenient branch that can be bent upwards as a new leader.
Cut back the remaining branches as far as you can while retaining some foliage
Wire them downwards.

This tree from Walter Pall's gallery is the kind of thing I mean. Obviously yours will look taller and thinner, and I'm not suggesting the material has the potential to match this, but you could end up with something moderately pleasing to the eye.

see it here: Walters Tree

Tony just put a hysterical picture in my mind. This picture quickly grew into a story. Hope everyone enjoys it!

The year is 600BC, Yu Too is an aging gentleman from the mountain regions of China. He had been out taking his morning constitutional when he spotted this tiny, ugly little tree stuck in a crack in a rock. He was amazed that this little tree had survived the fierceness of the wind and the seasons. So he decided he would rescue this little tree and give it a place of honor in his yard. As he dug and pulled at the base of this tree he skinned his knuckles, bruised his arms, darned near had a stroke hauling it back into the village.

As he passed through the village on the way to his house his neighbors said "Mr. Too, what are you doing with that ugly little tree, it will never provide you with shade and you will not be able to get enough firewood for even one nights sleep."

Mr. Too said, I was so fascinated with this little tree and it's struggle to survive, that I thought I would put it in a pot and place it in my back yard so I and this tree can grow old together.

The villagers said, " Yu Too funny... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..... wire it stick it in a pot and call it "Tree-in-a-Pot" ... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Mr. Too did as he has said he would and place the tree in a place of honor in his garden.

Several seasons later, one of Mr. Too's neighbors had seen how well Yu's tree was doing and thought he would try it himself. The others in the village thought his folly would be as funny as Yu's so they decided to call the act of potting ugly little trees in pots "Yu Toos"; however, Mr. Too, being a modest man decided this should not be so. He concluded to the neighbor that the original joke name of "Tree-in-a-Pot" was actually more fitting of the trees so he and his neighbor settled on Bon-sai as their new hobby.

It did take a few centuries and the help of some obsessive compulsive Japanese conquerors, but the hobby finally did catch on.

Good thing for us Mr. Too didn't listen to them!

Hope Yu Too will listen to your heart and the tree and do the best with it you can. And if it comes out so nasty you would be embarrassed to show it anyone. Put it in a special little corner of your garden...and don't show it to anyone!

Tony wrote:Only 72 Days left

Glad that someone else can see the same as me Thought there for a while that I was the only one that thought of a Christmas tree when I looked at that. They seem to grow all over the place here on the Intercostal water way and they always have the same scragly christmas tree look. Kinda reminds me of a Christmas with snoopy

Literati?

Jay Gaydosh wrote:Tony just put a hysterical picture in my mind. This picture quickly grew into a story. Hope everyone enjoys it!

The year is 600BC, Yu Too is an aging gentleman from the mountain regions of China. He had been out taking his morning constitutional when he spotted this tiny, ugly little tree stuck in a crack in a rock. He was amazed that this little tree had survived the fierceness of the wind and the seasons. So he decided he would rescue this little tree and give it a place of honor in his yard. As he dug and pulled at the base of this tree he skinned his knuckles, bruised his arms, darned near had a stroke hauling it back into the village.

As he passed through the village on the way to his house his neighbors said "Mr. Too, what are you doing with that ugly little tree, it will never provide you with shade and you will not be able to get enough firewood for even one nights sleep."

Mr. Too said, I was so fascinated with this little tree and it's struggle to survive, that I thought I would put it in a pot and place it in my back yard so I and this tree can grow old together.

The villagers said, " Yu Too funny... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..... wire it stick it in a pot and call it "Tree-in-a-Pot" ... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Mr. Too did as he has said he would and place the tree in a place of honor in his garden.

Several seasons later, one of Mr. Too's neighbors had seen how well Yu's tree was doing and thought he would try it himself. The others in the village thought his folly would be as funny as Yu's so they decided to call the act of potting ugly little trees in pots "Yu Toos"; however, Mr. Too, being a modest man decided this should not be so. He concluded to the neighbor that the original joke name of "Tree-in-a-Pot" was actually more fitting of the trees so he and his neighbor settled on Bon-sai as their new hobby.

It did take a few centuries and the help of some obsessive compulsive Japanese conquerors, but the hobby finally did catch on.

Good thing for us Mr. Too didn't listen to them!

Hope Yu Too will listen to your heart and the tree and do the best with it you can. And if it comes out so nasty you would be embarrassed to show it anyone. Put it in a special little corner of your garden...and don't show it to anyone!

Haha Great post Jay!!

I like the tree..

-dorothy

People, it hase no quality at all.
Jim please put it in your garden for years to come, want to see again after 10-20 years though.
What ever if I know Jim wright he does his thing anyway

Peter

Jim,

this is another "stick in the pot" (or "stuck" in the pot?..). I staked it up a few years ago to let it grow up straight. Investment: 4.50$ plus pot. Last weekend I gave it a try. Now it is worth 14.50$..

Best,
dorothy

Turned out nice! But this tree has some curves in the trunk, Jim's tree is ramrod straight...

Hi Dorothy, the sensitive styling you have done on what is essentially a 'stick in a pot' is one of the best executions I have seen in many a year.

If this was an entry in the European 'New Talent' competition you would have won by a mile.

Maintaining this image is going to be one hell of a task on a tree that is so small.

I raise my hat to you

Tony

Tony wrote:Hi Dorothy, the sensitive styling you have done on what is essentially a 'stick in a pot' is one of the best executions I have seen in many a year.

If this was an entry in the European 'New Talent' competition you would have won by a mile.

Maintaining this image is going to be one hell of a task on a tree that is so small.

I raise my hat to you

Tony

Thank you for your kind words, Tony.

-dorothy