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Old Gold Juniper?

13 years ago

Hey everyone,

Picked up this interesting little "Old Gold Juniper" from my local nursery today to try and start to actually style something. When I first saw this tree, I immediately saw a Cascade in it. The trunk leans heavily to one side, and there is also a very thick branch that can be seen in some of the pictures. I did, however, want to stay away from cascades, as cascade junipers just don't do much for me. Would there be any possibility I could make this a windswept as the trunk leans so heavily? I would show you how much it leans, but then again it is too bushy to see anything down there. I heavy prune in late winter, correct? Think I could prune a little out of the way now? And lastly, anyone have experience with this kind of Juniper. I have the exact name, but it doesn't say exactly what it is. Oh yeah, I paid a whopping $17 for it:

The branch to the far left that cascades down the pot is that big heavy branch I was talking about:

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A slight view of the trunk:

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Another shot of the tree:

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Anyone know what it is?

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Thanks,

Ryan

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Comments (6)

larke
13 years ago
Juniperus 'aurea' means 'golden' juniper. The Latin name is always what counts. Anyhow, do heavy pruning on conifers when they're dormant, i.e. late fall/winter vs late winter/early spring (that's for deciduous trees). Why not just wait a month to be sure. The trunk seems a bit squat for windswept, but not undoable. If you don't like cascade, maybe don't buy Junipers :-)!
ryan_tree
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Larke! Think late October (say around the 25th) would be a fine time to work on this tree? This is basically what is hidden in all that foliage:

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Branch 1 will be trained to become the apex, and branch 2 will be a semi-cascade.
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Hello Lucy! I have no clue, quite frankly. The original intent (as you could probably see) was for it to be a 2-trunk bonsai, but now the second, smaller trunk will act as a sacrifice branch and be allowed to grow unrestricted. The same goes for the lower left-hand branch. I'm not sure how long it will take to the branches to produce reasonable thickness in the lower part of the trunk. I'm guessing that the upper branching in the new apex could be established (roughly) be the end of the coming growing season. The virtual is actually not much taller (if at all) than the current height. However, the development of these branches and other branches may take a while longer. Unrestricted, it can produce quite a bit of new growth. The following picture was taken before it was thinned out (the second last pic in my first post). This was the result of 1 1/2 growing seasons. Some pinching was done the second year. So my rough estimate is that maybe in 2-4 years, the pads will become decently developed and refined. However, this does not account for any recovery period for repotting, which hasn't been planned either. I'm sure that the roots will have to be reduced/refined, but I'm not sure when or how this should happen (i.e. if it should go into the ground, back into its pot, or into a bonsai pot). -Audric
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stop watering... the worst thing that you can do .. is freeze the roots into an ice cube .... do NOT water again.. unless your finger.. inserted to about 3 inches.. indicates that the soil is dry .... in my z5.. i suspect that might be mid may, next year ... add mulch around the plant if you didn't prior.. and you can still find some in z4 ... almost all the junipers turn color in fall and winter ... to some extent or another... i don't see why you should be concerned the old GOLD is turning yellow .. lol ... though i have no specific knowledge of that plant.. it sure sounds normal to me .... with temps in the 30' to 50's by day .. and 20 to 40's at night.. you will have little color change other than that which is normal for this time of year .... your only threat is late next spring.. after thaw and spring showers leave... and the soil starts to dry in summer ... i would only be concerned with one color.. brown ... and you wont see that until the heat of summer, next year ... watering is an art.. not a science .... one gallon per week means nothing ... you water when the soil needs water... and that is a function of water holding capacity... drainage.. rain... etc ... no guessing allowed.. insert finger ... all that said ... junipers are pretty hard to kill .. presuming you started with healthy stock .... and presuming the most minor of care ... you will be beating them back with a stick in a year or two ... have a good holiday... i am sure you have many other things that you need to worry about... i doubt the junipers should be high on the list .... ken
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There is globosa blue spruce--32 inches tall. I see you have a juniper, there are several more with silver blue foliage. If you want something different try Sawara False Cypress 60 inches tall with feather like foliage. You do have a lot of evergreens Why don't you try mixing in a few flowering shrubs that would like the acidic soil that your evergreens need. A shrub like Hydrangea with it's large flower heads would look lovely and then front with a few flowers, either perennial or annual.
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larke
13 years ago
Great... but don't let the top part get too large, no more than 2/3 of the cascade because otherwise they'll be fighting each other for visual dominance and it won't look good. You could go for a cool pad or two on the top but a short 'trunk' for it.
ryan_tree
Original Author
13 years ago
So I pruned this thing today. And all I can say is that it looks BAD. There was a slingshot hidden under there. Now it does not look too well:

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I thought about removing that whole branch to the left, then jinning it. But, the foliage grows toward the camera and not off to the sides. The yellow is what I want to jin, and the red is the actual tree:

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Ryan
larke
13 years ago
Hi - it's early a.m. here, but I'm not sure what the problem would be in jinning the longer trunk whether the foliage grows off to the sides or not, because the stump (jin) will be a stump in the end. However while the red trunk looks like it should be useful, its foliage will also grow all over the place and you'll have to keep it well trained and trimmed, not to mention having to work on the root system so the tree is more centered in the pot, if not even closer to the edge, rather than sitting back from it as it is now - which is not to say that it can't be done. Maybe a procumbens, with its 'tighter' foliage pattern might have been a better bet (and wouldn't necessarily cascade any more than this one anyhow). Just a tip - having bought a tree that turns out not to be a very good candidate for bonsai does not mean you have to drive yourself crazy trying to turn it into something to justify the purchase! You can have some fun trying, but don't get discouraged if it doesn't work out for you.
ryan_tree
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Larke! I meant the section that is in red is coming toward the camera, and it would take some seriously thick wire to bend it to go to the sides. I am just not a fan of that cascade branch. It has that long bare section which is just plain ugly. I'll jin the yellow and see what happens....

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