名媛直播

I just bought a small juniper semi cascade (?) bonsai from my local garden store. I was hoping to find other shapes there, but the store only had these! I'm happy to cultivate him the way he is, but I wanted to know if there was a way to encourage some more vertical and balanced growth over time.

I have never shaped a bonsai before, so I'm a total beginner in that respect! I have taken maintenance care of a juniper bonsai in the past. I know that since I want my little guy to get a bit bigger anyways, I should ask a more experienced crowd how to move forward.

Mainly, I do not know how to start planning since I do not know if the shapes I would like are possible -- but I also don't know the very first thing about how the trunk of the tree itself will develop (I've seen several guides but I haven't found or maybe I missed an explanation of this?) I have two drawings attached below that explain what I mean. I am wondering if the trunk will grow from the bottom up, or if existing vertical shoots can join the trunk over time. Like I said, if it's not possible, I'm happy to go with the shape it already has! I'm just very new this part of the bonsai world.

(PS: I'm also seeing a fair bit of leaf growth from the roots on my little guy. I've been reading as much as I can in the past few days but I haven't come across advice on whether that's a good or a bad thing for bonsai/for the shape)

I am not sure I fully understand your question. So excuse me if I answer something else.

All trees grow by thickening. The only living part is just under the bark and it builds wood to support it. Your picture 1 is a more likelly development. On picture 2 it seems like your cascading branch has moved upwards. That is impossible. Branches stay on the same place as they develop and never move.

That’s exactly what I was wondering, thank you!

Hey Amy,

Welcome to 名媛直播 Empire!

You have bought a young plant from a nursery. The road towards bonsai is now up to you.

The way the plant grows right now, is how this variety grows naturally (This is known as a Juniperus procumbens nana, which is known to form crawling carpets).

You CAN of course bring the main trunk up by staking or wiring it into position. Leave it staked for a year and it will have grown enough for the trunk to keep its shape. This is the main principle of developing bonsai: Look at the plant, and see what can (and cannot) be adjusted to create a pleasing image of a mature tree, in small.

I dabble in youtube a little bit. Maybe this helps understand the basics of trunks a bit:

GRowth from the roots? Are you sure it is not just weeds?

Thanks so much for your reply! I would love to bring up the trunk by wiring, but I don't know if the little guy is ready for that yet/what the best time of year is to start/etc. (I've just now transferred it into a proper bonsai pot and it's doing very well!) Do you have any recommendations on good beginner wiring videos or webpages? Your trunk video helped me visualize the growth patterns and techniques a lot better than I had before, thanks for sharing!

And yes -- I was getting little juniper shoots from beneath the soil, it looked like they were coming from the roots but they could have been from the trunk deeper down since the soil was quite high in its nursery pot. I gently removed them and the base is looking much nicer!

Goodnight.
It leans towards semi cascade naturally. But it needs cultivation, a colander, akadama + pomice and proper fertilization and let it develop, the tree itself will show you the way, but this species tends to develop horizontally