We went for a little hike up Pic Saint Loup, which the closest thing to a mountain we have near here, between the Cevennes and the Mediterranean.
It was covered in these trees which really caught my attenetion. Some gnarly twisted trunks, some with interesting bits of dead wood. Very varied habit. Kind of made me think of some of the Juniper bonsai that you see. Thought I'd share a few photos here.
I had no idea what they were but decided I want to try to grow them.
My partner mentioned they could be juipers but I thought not because I didn't see any cones or any scale-type leaves, just these spiky leaves that came in threes. Some of them clearly seemed to have flower buds and some had berries.
Turns out she was right. After a bit of research, I'm pretty certain they are Juniperus Oxycedrus (with various common names including Cade and Prickly Juniper). The berries actually were cones.
I found this one really interesting. That dead wood in the middle with the double trunk growing up around it with a bit of a canopy over the top.
Close up of leaves and what I at first thought were flower buds.
Immature cones.
Kind of an interesting leaning-over shape. The next one shows the trunk a bit better
Trunk of the same one in the previous photo.
I'm guessing they cut down this big tree because it was in the middle of the trail. Started growing back upside down on one of the branche stumps.
I wasn't particularly interested to try juniper before even though they say they can be good for beginners, but these changed my mind.
(Added to the list at least, not sure when I'll get around to getting some).
Difficult to take photos, partly because of the lighting and the fact that the background of the plants are more plants, but also because I'm a terrible photographer .
Mediterranean junipers in nature
- Joshua
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Mediterranean junipers in nature
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Re: Mediterranean junipers in nature
It looks to be Juniperus communis or rigida - I don't know the difference, but they make good tough bonsai, particularly when ground-grown to make a solid trunk with lots of dead wood. Yes, they're prickly, but what the hell, so am I. We have an Interesting Relationship. They're good value.
Gavin
Gavin