Juniperus pyramidalis

[Albo]

I picked up this juniper in September last year just to play around with. I’ve been really surprised how it has progressed and it’s one of my favourite to look at in the garden. It grows strongly and I love the blue/grey foliage. I’m letting the top grow out a bit to try thicken the trunk. I repotted it into a more suitable pot about 6 weeks ago and it’s just continued on without a hitch. It still growing but starting to slow down for winter now.

I haven’t heard great things about Juniperus pyramidalis for bonsai but in my limited experience they are great.

[shibui]

Great job with that tree.
I grew some of similar colour and upright habit. They also grew faster than any other juniper I have used so the trunks thickened really well but I got sick of fighting the upright branching and prickly foliage so eventually I grafted shimpaku foliage on some branches. Much better to work with now and the shimpaku grows faster than similar ungrafted plants.

[Albo]

Great job with that tree.
I grew some of similar colour and upright habit. They also grew faster than any other juniper I have used so the trunks thickened really well but I got sick of fighting the upright branching and prickly foliage so eventually I grafted shimpaku foliage on some branches. Much better to work with now and the shimpaku grows faster than similar ungrafted plants.

Thanks, it does want to push upright and I could see if I had as many to look after as you do it would become annoying.
Interesting about the Grafting and the shimpaku growing faster.
The lower branches have almost tripled in thickness in 7 months. I probably should have left a couple extra branches to fill out the mess. Then I could have reduced the pad sizes and those branches wouldn’t have thickened as much. I feel the branch thickness is a little bit heavy for the trunk size at the moment.
But hopefully growing a sacrifice up top will thicken the trunk trunk and balance it out to my eye.

[Albo]

Another Pyramidalis.

This one is pretty well straight. Trunk is about an inch thick. I don’t always want everything twisted and contorted.
I just potted it in April with about 20% root reduction and chopped the top. Wired branches out to let light into the interior, a lot of dead interior from lack of light. I left a lot of branches on to keep options open and I suspect I will do a lot of Jin in the future with this.
It’s putting on new growth and starting to develop that silver blue colour. Interior buds are forming.
Just letting it get healthy for now and make some styling decisions later.
I haven’t exactly decided what to do but I’m thinking formal upright and taking some influence from the Bennett Juniper In the US. If you haven’t seen that tree look it up, pretty cool.

[Albo]

Pulled the branch angle down a bit.
Can’t wait till spring to see new growth fills out some areas and I want that trunk to thicken.I’ll let the top grow relatively unchecked.

[Kedron Brook]

Nice, that's definitely showing progression. And thanks for mentioning the Bennett Juniper, that's quite an interesting tree. I don't see many around here. The Gums and Jacarandas are difficult to imitate!

[Albo]

All my junipers are pushing growth as the weather is starting to warm and longer daylight.
Hopefully this trunk thickens a bit this year. I’m going to let a sacrifice grow from the top to encourage it.
But I really enjoy this tree overall.

[Albo]

Another Pyramidalis.

This one is pretty well straight. Trunk is about an inch thick. I don’t always want everything twisted and contorted.
I just potted it in April with about 20% root reduction and chopped the top. Wired branches out to let light into the interior, a lot of dead interior from lack of light. I left a lot of branches on to keep options open and I suspect I will do a lot of Jin in the future with this.
It’s putting on new growth and starting to develop that silver blue colour. Interior buds are forming.
Just letting it get healthy for now and make some styling decisions later.
I haven’t exactly decided what to do but I’m thinking formal upright and taking some influence from the Bennett Juniper In the US. If you haven’t seen that tree look it up, pretty cool.

Just an update on this one. Repotted end of Aug into a lrg pot to promote growth. Done some branch selection and wiring. Bit of Jin work. I was thinking this would look good as a trio if I can grab a couple extras.

[Promethius]

I like its simplicity and love the group planting idea!

[Albo]

Year and a half from when I started this juniper. A couple of months ago I re-organised the apex as it had a fairly straight section I didn’t like. Been redeveloping the side branches in the top qtr.
Made a lot of mistakes with this one but I still like it.
I wish I had left more branches to get thinner foliage pads and thinner branches in relation to the trunk. Lots of foliage on this species and the branches thicken quickly.

I want that lower trunk thicker.
I may let one of the lower branches run as a sacrifice for a couple years and then Jin it. I may also let a sacrifice run from the top.

[Albo]

Moved this juniper onto the next phase.
I’ll leave it in the larger pot with the sacrificial top for another season.
I’d like to get that base twice at thick so I’ll just let that top run.

[Albo]

This one has had the same treatment, let grow out, push back and I left a sacrifice top.

I’ve never been happy with this one. I feel the proportions are off. Lower branches are too thick in relation to the trunk and not enough branching lower down.
One thing with this species, if you let the branches grow unchecked, they thicken quickly.

I’m thinking of doing a drastic restyle next spring. Repot on an angle and remove most of the lower 2 thirds of branching as Jin.

If you can make out what I have in mind from my terrible photo editing.

[Trimmy]

I agree the lower branches are too thick. Nonetheless, I would let then grow unpruned for a while to thicken the base.