CA Juniper

Here is a CA JUniper I just did some trimming and wiring on to prepare for a exhibit next year. Any ideas for a appropriate pot?

I prefer simple pots and I think the design/shape of the pot it is in is great, it just needs to be about twice as big all the way around.

Maybe a little bigger but not much, I'd like to getter a darker too I think.

Hi Bob, As for a pot, I'd suggest darker and longer. The height is ok.

Any chance you could simplify the design?- there is a lot going on there. I'd like to see at least one trunk more prominent than the others.

Thanks Rob. Not sure how I'd simplify it any. I think after the apexes fill out it'll look less busy and more anchored.

I agree with Rob, when I scroll the page half way down, I thought that it is about a forest.

Xuan

Very interesting piece of material. It almost seems like it wants to be 2 trees, if separated down the middle. The trunks/deadwood seem to go off in all directions. Maybe filling in some of the foliage masses and using them to obscure some of the trunks would help? Or, would you consider removing any of the deadwood to simplify the design?

Have to look at this one when I have more time...have never worked with anything like it.

Chris

I think a nice stone slab would enhance this beauty!

I don't think a slab would be practical in the part of L.A. I'm in. We get up to 115 in the summer.

Bob, can you go with a shallow pot? If you can, I like the oval, but shallower and wider. I think a wider pot will help balance the canopy.

Definitely wider I'm not sure about shallower, I'll have to see at the next repotting.

Post deleted.

I wish I was a better photographer because this photo doesn't do it justice. There's no way I'd split this. Personally I think it just mostly needs to fill out and it will be a more powerful and stable image.

Great tree Bob - and I know how you feel - the photos never seems to do the tree justice.
Outstanding material with so many possibilities.

Here's a rough idea of another route you could take:

Justin, thanks for posting that beautiful virt. It reflects the kinds of changes that I was envisioning but unable to accurately convey, and would be one potential way to go with the tree. I thought it was so nice that I downloaded it and cleaned up the background. I also started playing with some of the foliage masses but quickly decided I wouldn't be able to improve it without a lot of effort.

Anyway, perhaps it won't be of interest to the OP, but it has provided me with some new ideas on how to deal with some material in my collection. So thanks again for posting it.

I've also looked at the original photo of the tree more carefully and I think my initial reaction may have been the result of the unfinished nature of the foliage masses. For some reason, today I can see the potential as designed more clearly. I hope we get to see future images as the foliage is developed.

Chris

P.S. I know the OP didn't ask for opinions about the tree itself (only the pot), but I hope he doesn't mind that we talk about it. You never know which ideas will be useful.

Justin and coh thank you very much. I didn't respond to Justin's post because I couldn't really see it too clearly. So thank you coh for cleaning it up. It is something to think about. It does simplify things. I'll try to post a better picture, but I have to wait until my helpers get back this afternoon.
I don't mind people talking about my tree you never know when and where you'll learn something new. I've always thought that one of the cool things about bonsai is how we all see trees in different ways. Doesn't mean I agree with them all, but if one is not open to suggestion than one can potentially really lose out.
No matter what I'll always take my time before making any major decisions on such an ancient tree.
Thank you both for your ideas now there is a seed planted in my brain. I'll be sure to post newer pictures as the tree develops.

i really like the final virt - it certainly gives the material a tree like image- i feel the initial design has 4 equal trunks all fighting to be the dominant one, leaving the image of a young immature forest rather than an old mature tree. i think its a fantastic project tree / pre bonsai but i cant see it will do it any justice using it in an exibition so soon - surely better to hold it back for 3 or 4 years (at least) so the foliage develops a lot more and can be repeatedly pinched, thinned and refined properly, this timescale will let the new dead wood age a lot more too. Once the tree reaches this stage it will be easier to find the right pot for it, as I dont think it has quite arrived at its final design yet.

I think a deeper pot would be appropriate, both esthetically and horticulturally.
Be that has it may, it's a great tree with great prospects for the future.

Mike

I'm not sold on deeper just a little longer and wider I think.

marcus watts wrote:i really like the final virt - it certainly gives the material a tree like image- i feel the initial design has 4 equal trunks all fighting to be the dominant one, leaving the image of a young immature forest rather than an old mature tree. i think its a fantastic project tree / pre bonsai but i cant see it will do it any justice using it in an exibition so soon - surely better to hold it back for 3 or 4 years (at least) so the foliage develops a lot more and can be repeatedly pinched, thinned and refined properly, this timescale will let the new dead wood age a lot more too. Once the tree reaches this stage it will be easier to find the right pot for it, as I dont think it has quite arrived at its final design yet.

I really need a better photo. This tree is probably close to 1000 years old and except for the foliage there's nothing immature looking about it in person. There are six live trunks and three dead ones not four. And there is no new deadwood just a couple of areas where the lime sulphur has been scrubbed out. The newest deadwood was made in 1996 when the tree was collected. Here in Los Angeles this tree grows year round by June I'll have pinched and thinned at least twice maybe three times so I'm not worried about the foliage. My own personal belief about trees with this much deadwood is they look unnatural with full luscious pads of foliage. I've never seen a natural tree with this much deadwood having full lush pads of foliage. I know I'm in the minority about that, just look at all those shimpaku's with their lush clouds of foliage and tons of deadwood. For me that just doesn't work.
In any case I appreciate everyone's ideas, so thanks.

I tend to agree with the initial comments about a broader, if possibly, shallower pot.

The tree itself speaks deeply to me in its original form. I have camped under 30-40 foot tall juniper trees that look virtually identical to this at the Lava Beds National Monument in N. California. It very much evokes the age and raw power of the trees in that area. I understand the desire for it to be refined, but the refinements seem to reduce the feelings the original brings to my heart.