Juniperus Rigida

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Patmet
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Juniperus Rigida

Post by Patmet »

I bought this Needle Juniper just over a year ago from a fellow bonsai enthusiast, as he wanted to pass on a bunch of trees that he wasn't interested in anymore.

The thing that attracted me to this one is;

a) Juniperus Rigida are pretty uncommon around here.
b) It looked like a real challenge.

I have just finished pruning it quite hard for the second time, which seemed to work well the first time, in hopes of trying to encourage growth closer in to the trunk to start getting the foliage more compact to work with on refinement later on.

Has anyone got any experience and/or advice on these Junipers? I would love to hear it. Cheers.
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GavinG
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Re: Juniperus Rigida

Post by GavinG »

Highly recommended species, for me - tough, responsive, and with tight pruning you can keep the foliage close in. Branches wire easily, bark ages slowly but well. (It also grows easily from cuttings - take plenty, and experiment with ground-growing!) They can take interesting curves in the trunk if you wire or clip-and-grow early enough. They like fertiliser, full sun, and a bit of lime each year.

Don't be afraid to bend up the branches into something interesting, and maybe consider NOT trimming nice even pads, as has been the fashion. Look at Dan Robinson's book "Gnarly Branches Ancient Trees" if you can find it - his foliage outlines are very complex and rich in detail.

Oh, and as you'll know by now, they're prickly as hell. I quite like a tree with attitude, but you can't avoid it...

Good luck,

Gavin
Patmet
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Aussie Bonsai Fan
Posts: 300
Joined: March 31st, 2019, 8:21 am
Favorite Species: WA natives
Bonsai Age: 5
Bonsai Club: Albany Bonsai Collective, Bonsai Society of Western Australia
Location: Albany, Western Australia
Has thanked: 361 times
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Re: Juniperus Rigida

Post by Patmet »

Cheers for that Gavin - super helpful!

I am definitely going to propagate some cuttings I’m super keen to experiment with them from an early age as this one is quite set in it’s ways as far as the trunk goes. I have struggled to think of how to make this one not a really generic looking informal upright but what you have said has made me think outside the box a bit more.

I love the deadwood features on these junipers so I definitely want to take advantage of that in the eventual design, and perhaps turn one of the drooping branches into a new leader with a potting angle change. I’ll have another good study of the tree and see what it tells me.

I’ll try and get my hands on that book it looks like a good one! And yes that’s half the reason the guy sold it to me because it was unpleasant to work on haha they are super sharp those needles but I love the rugged look!
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