The Japanese Dwarf Garden Juniper

Better known in the bonsai world as Juniper Procumbens Nana


This lovely shrub is great for bonsai and especially for the beginner its low growing habit is great for creating a cascading bonsai and can be developed in a short time.

This material has been very miss used by many different sellers and other people displaying starter bonsai and even beyond in malls and other places where you might not normally expect to find bonsai for sale.

Good bonsai are normally sold by nurseries or people that specialize in this type of plant material and not in some mall out in the middle isle from a booth.

Don’t get me wrong sometimes you may find a really good buy in one of these types of places but most often I would be very careful.

Most of these sellers will simply slap one of these tiny starter plants into a pot and then call it bonsai. Buyers beware.

Such is not the case. It takes a few years to develop a nice bonsai and even with this material you’ll spend some time and have1 to do your homework if you really want to create a nice one.

This material however can make a wonderful bonsai and can be accomplished with very little efforts on the grower’s part if only you will follow a few simple guide lines.

Look for a plant in a nursery that is from five to seven years old and that has already been established and grown some nice branches for you to choose from and work on.

You can expect the price to be from around $9.95 when on sale to somewhere around $25.00 depending on the size of the plant and the amount of growth it has developed.

These plants can be found in nearly any fine garden establishment around the entire world.

If you want to work on your plant such as wiring or training of the branches this is best done in the fall when the plant goes dormant. If you do wire or train at other times of the year you will have to be very vigilante that you do not scar your bark and break the branches.

The branches will then have all winter to become accustomed to there new position. You will want to keep up with regular pinching of new growth of these plants during the growing season and please do pinch out the new growth and do not cut it out with scissors as this will turn your needles brown and make your plant look unsightly.

Pinching only encourages the plant to grow more vigorous and it will be come a lot more compact and not nearly as leggy looking on your branches.

All you need to do is grasp the new growth between your fore finger and your thumb and slightly twist and the new shoot will easily break away from the mother plant.

Eventually your aim is to try and create pods as I call them and let these cascades down for a very nice visual appearance. In other words a nice looking branched cascading arm with clusters of rounded or an elongated looking pods.

Fertilize your plant from early March till June and then stop feeding as you will not want to risk fertilizing this plant in the heat of summer as you may kill it.

The Juniper will tolerate full sun and can go a little on the dry side but as with all bonsai you will never want your plants to completely dry out; this simply is not good at all for any bonsai and most often will spell disaster.

The juniper likes to be sprayed or misted every day during the normal growing season from around June till September and in most areas it will begin to start its winter nap during the month of late October or even in to November.

You will need to repot your bonsai about every one to two years and at repotting time you will want to gradually remove about one third of the entire root growth but not at all once.

Do this over say two or three years and then once you have a nice established plant you’ll only need to transplant it about every five years or so.

Do not keep these plants indoors for long periods as they are indeed an outdoors bonsai. Others will try to convince you that it will simply grow just fine indoors. I’m here to tell you they are wrong.

Plants that are used to being out doors all the time simply will not do well indoors that’s just the way of it. By bringing those into your home you’re setting up a almost instant death for the plant.

These plants are simply used to being outside in the elements rain, wind, cold, and the like and once they acclimate to these types of conditions and then you try and change the conditions by bringing the plant in doors you will most often kill your plant.

This is not to say that you can’t bring your plants indoors for a short while to enjoy them because you can. But then you must return them to the garden or patio or where ever you’re growing them outside or expect disaster.

If you’re interested in trying your hand at one of these fairly simple to grow and tend bonsai then I would recommend that you get a nice starter from your local nursery during the growing season, or you may wish to get one from an auction if you do not want to wait. Or you can purchase a plant that is already growing and been pre trained to some extent.

Here is an auction link for you to take a look at if you want a plant you can hold over till spring and then begin work on, just click the link to take a look at this material. Simply click on the link below.

Click here to see the auction

If you want to perhaps purchase a plant that has already been established and some what pre trained then look at my link below. At my link you can take a look at a couple of plants that I have for you. Clik the link below to view the material.

http://www.bonsainmore.com


Thanks, for reading
By: Harold Yearout
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