Growth Diary | Have you ever seen a Japanese juniper bonsai this small?

▲This miniature Japanese juniper material was purchased in 2005. The trunk of the starter plant had already been bent, and the shari on the trunk had already been designed.

▲Vigorous growth, lush branches and leaves, and the emerald green color is truly delightful.

▲As a bonsai, this little juniper is clearly top-heavy. The trunk is slender, paired with an oversized canopy, giving it a very unstable look. So the next work is mainly to reduce the canopy through selection and removal, and to make the foliage more compact by forcing back budding. Only when the canopy is lighter can it harmonize with the trunk.

▲First, selection and removal - cut away the redundant branches.

▲After thinning out the branches and foliage, light can reach the interior, which is conducive to forcing back budding.

▲Close-up of the shari section. The original shari was made very crudely - just simple bark stripping, with no treatment of the xylem, lacking a sense of age and weathering.

▲Pinching tips to force budding. Strive to bring the foliage pads closer to the trunk.

▲Begin working on the shari.

▲The torn grain is more primitive and natural.

▲The removed branches are made into jin (dead branches). After the styling is complete, the canopy is greatly reduced.

▲2008, three years since the last styling. Compared with three years ago, the branches and foliage are much more luxuriant.

▲2009.

▲2010.

▲2011.

▲2016, after routine thinning.

▲2017, a sudden inspiration - the sparse foliage and twisted, aged trunk are very suitable for a cascade style. Moreover, the cascade style can also downplay the shortcoming of the trunk having no taper.

▲Remove from the pot and take out the root ball, carefully not letting the soil ball fall apart.

▲First prepare the drainage mesh and fixing aluminum wire for the bottom of the pot. Here the installation direction of the fixing wire is opposite to our usual direction, in order to make the soil surface cleaner and more beautiful. Because the pot is small, knots of aluminum wire on the pot surface would be very unsightly. With this method, it can be tightened and fixed at the bottom of the pot, striving for simplicity and beauty.

▲Find a suitable angle. Try to leave a certain gap between the trunk and the pot edge. This shows the stump hanging by its own strength, rather than relying on the pot edge. In this way, the power of the roots and trunk is expressed.

▲This angle is not quite suitable. Like a grown man always leaning on a pillar, it gives a listless feeling.

▲Tighten and fix the aluminum wire from the bottom of the pot.

▲Fixing complete.

▲The pot surface is relatively cleaner and more beautiful.

▲Carefully fill in soil and lay moss.

▲Final result photo.

▲On display.

▲The tree itself has not changed at all, yet a different planting angle can actually produce such a big difference - one cannot help but marvel at the ingenuity of it all!

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