Juniper Collecting Ground

[mwkoi]

Hi Guys

Just thought I'll show some photos of my juniper collecting ground.

The property belongs to a good friend. There are about 18 large junipers scattered around the property. They were all planted about 30 years ago.

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With time and a bit of luck, hopefully this can be achieved (previously posted in the "pines and junipers' section):

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Cheers
Mark

[Mitchell]

Oh, come on! Seriously, that is so mean. I don't think I like you anymore.

[alpineart]

Hi mwkoi ,mate have you hit the jackpot there .Urban Yamadori in abundance like this is very rare .Best of luck with the removal .Hire out a mini Backhoe or excavator , these tree's are worth the extra cost that's for sure . Cheers Alpineart

[daiviet_nguyen]

Hi mwkoi,

I hope you will have times to record your collecting progression and share with us.

Thank you and best regards.

[Mojo Moyogi]

Hi Mark, welcome to AusBonsai. That is a good score

I am lucky enough to live at a large property that has 80-100 Sabina Junipers like these, just waiting to be dug and developed. They were planted between 1984 and 1987 and have 4-6 inch trunks that twist every which way. I plan to dig them all when I have a proper poly-tunnel assembled to give them the best chance of survival. When I finally met Jow a few months ago, he suggested that I should try grafting Shimpaku foliage onto them, which I think is a great idea, there is not many 6 inch trunk wild Shimpaku around in Australia.

Take as long as you need to collect them, they are indeed trees of huge potential.

Cheers,
Mojo

[mwkoi]

Hey Mojo

That is also what I was thinking of doing too, grafting shimpaku foliage on. Its great knowing someone else in Aus is doing the same thing too.

I will be forced to lift two trees this weekend though, they are blocking the entrance to the house and I know if I don't do something the owners will get to them before me. I remember a few years ago, there was a conifer nursery in Perth that was closing down due to the land being sold and redeveloped. I heard the news from a friend and promptly drove down to the property to see what I could salvage. There were mature pines, spruces, shimpakus, procumbens, squamatas and many other varieties of garden junipers planted around the house and they were to be bulldozed. These were trees from which the owner took cuttings from so you can imagine the sort of shapes and bonsai potential they had. Unfortunately it was summer and by the time I got there the water had been cutoff for quite some time. You could imagine the horror!! Anyway, the owner kindly agreed to let me take as many trees as I wanted.

Most of the junipers were dead (including the shimpakus which were the largest I've seen in Aus) or dying, the spruces and pines(no JBP unfortunately) I didn't even bother but I managed to salvage a couple of large junipers.

Anyway, the story is I've missed out on a opportunity and now that I have found another collecting ground you can be rest assured that I will not let any of these trees go to waste.

Cheers
Mark

[Mojo Moyogi]

Mark, I figure it will take 1-2 seasons for the trees to recover after collection before I can do any styling work to them, then another 5 or more years for me to get leggy branches to back-bud and for me to develop basic structural foliage pads where I need them to be. From what I have been told, Sabina foliage takes a bit of work to refine, but does yield good results in the medium to long term. Or I could graft Shimpaku foliage in multiple locations throughout the trees and after 5 or more years, I am going to have something worth owning.

One thing is for sure, it will be interesting to see how we go.

Cheers,
Mojo