West Coast Bonsai
Basic styling of a Hollywood Juniper group planting
As you can see this small three plant group is in need of some basic styling help. The group was part of 5 plants taken from 15 gallon nursery stock bought in May 2002. They were about 8' tall and very stringy with little or no lower branches but for $35 each I saw some future. |
Hollywood Juniper (Juniperua Chinensus var. torolosa) The first thing I did to make the group planting was cut them to a height of about 40" and let them go for the rest of the year. One of the plants didn't make it through the scorching summer of 2002. The following spring we trimmed the branches again and did a major root cut to fit the 3 best plants together into a wood training box. They were left to there fate for 12 months until May 2004 when they were again root trimmed, topped off to a 34" height and the dead branches removed or jinned and the three were planted in this training pot. We did manage to get one nice juvenal branch to grow on the main focus tree. |
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Group Planting after styling As you can now see the base of the juniper group has been brought together about 3" and the back plant has been rotated about 20 degrees clockwise. The rotation did three things. It helped hide the overall differences in height of the three plants and establishes a better "triangle effect" It also allowed for a branch to help cover the dead wood in the upper third of the right side tree. The largest tree is now 34" high and has 7 branches. The middle one is 29" tall but only has three branches one is new this year. The top 6" is dead wood. The smallest tree on the right stands only 24" tall and it too has only three branches. The overall spread of the first right/left branches is just over 25". |
That brings us to this close-up picture above taken in Dec.2004, a cold rainy 3 weeks before the styling shown below. The tree is healthy, the branches are thick and full but have no definition. |
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Once the group was moved together and the actual final tree layout was established the finished tree sizes needed to be determined. We don't want the focus tree of this group to get to much taller. At 34" it is already pushing the outer limit of a bonsai. |
Creating an good Apex To address this height problem we created the new apex by slightly bending the upper front branch to the right, twisting slightly as we brought it down. We did a little light wiring and trimmed the feathery branches. This also covered most of the trees upper deadwood. The new apex will be allowed to grow but we will keep a close eye on the height. As you can see from the close up view on the left originally the new apex was a thick stub of a branch and all of the apex branches are new in the last 2 years. Once they mature and fill in the upward angle will be changed and they will begin to take on a more natural look. We have tried to use as little wire as possible choosing instead to directionally trim the branches. This was done because this type of tree grows so well in southern california that with just a little neglect and my forgetful mind the wires would be cutting into the branches in no time. |
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What's next for this juniper group planting? This group planting is a long way from finished but after this styling it is starting to show some of the character I always new was there. In my opinion, right now, the most glaring and obvious problems with this group planting in order of importance are; 1) The right side anchor plant has a little to much dead wood on its apex which slightly deforms the overall triangle effect so desirable in this type of planting and it points outward or to the right when view from the front. 2) The lack of branches on the two smaller trees. How do we fix it? In the beginning I thought that I would later add this group to five or six other smaller plants and create a big setting but now I am not so sure. The overall size graduation form the largest to the smallest plant is acceptable and with a little more work and some growing time this will become a nice plant. Problem #1 will be fixed in two ways. The deadwood will be reshaped without shortening it to much. Otherwise you would need to do the same to all the others to some degree to keep the size graduation constant. And we will wait and let the top branch of the center plant mature and lengthen thus covering most of what will remain of the flaw. After all, this is why we rotated that center plant in the first place. A mixture of the two will most likely correct this flaw. Problem #2 could be solved with a few well placed grafts. However, this would take many years to correct because they would all have to be placed in the lower region of the trees and would eventually require the complete removal of the thick lower and back branches.This would be a costly fix and very time consuming. On the other hand if this plant is just left to grow this problem will become less evident and may take care of its self. So far this project has been a lot of fun and a good learning experience. It is my first attempt at a large group. It should show the beginner that good stock doesn't have to be expensive or exotic. Hollywood junipers grow everywhere in southern california. I will keep you updated on it progress. |
 This is a view from the right side showing the dead wood on the smallest tree. As you can see, from this view the deadwood appears to be straight. The deadwood could be shortened but then you would need to do the same to all the others to some degree and there just isn't enough upper deadwood on the other two trees. |
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