Wiltonii Juniper

 Here you will see one of my favorites bonsai in the garden. This Juniper is very old and the trunk on this shrub is the center of attraction for most visitors too my garden. This tree took two awards this year at a recent show.

 This particular type of Juniper makes a very good ground cover in almost any garden and also can very well be trained with time and patients into a stunning bonsai as you can see from the picture here.

 The juniper here is over thirty five years old and is named after a nursery that founded the variety back in the year 1914 in Ct. It is often times more commonly called Blue Rug and will take full sun in most types of soils in your garden if planted as ground cover. But of course if your going to train one into bonsai like the shrub here has been trained then you will want fast draining soil and keep it well watered but not totally wet either.

Typically in very hot weather I will water my bonsai twice a day and mist in between. This means on days above 80 degrees for my garden and yes it does take some time but anything worth doing is worth doing right or just do not bother at all if you do not wish to spend the time to take care of your plants.

 Like most Junipers it will do its best in full sun, however it will also tolerate shaded areas with part sun in the garden.

 Pests are possibly scale and other than that pretty much none known and if any at all then I personally would use my favorite bug spray to get rid of them. Not much pruning on this particular plant once it was well established. I do thin it out a little latter in the year around June in my area.

  As with most all junipers they tend to be slow growers anyway so not really a whole lot of pruning at least as a bonsai that is, but left in the garden as a shrub then you will need to contain it or it will over run an area quick.

 I use my own personal soil mix and you can read about my recommend mix in yet another article on this blog.

 This tree will be worked down into a much smaller pot this next season but for now it is what it is and will remain in this pot. It was too late this season too work into a smaller pot so I left it alone for this year. I simply had other tress in my collection that needed my attention and there were just to many that I had to work on and so this one got skipped this year.

 It does happen sometimes not deliberate of course but sometimes it just can not be worked like you would want because with a large collection like I have you simply run out of time. Any tree like this should never be majorly worked past spring as it just gets too hot for any repotting to take place.

 These junipers are crawlers and creepers if left unattended for any long periods and are truly used in most gardens as ground cover and they have a kind of blue cast in the winter months and they also grow berries and this can add to the interest of the plant.

 You would spend many years getting a trunk like the one here, which by the way has been lime sulfured to create the Shari look and in point of fact even perceives more age than the tree truly is.

 So if you plan to bonsai one then just be patient and take your time to achieve the look you want and not necessarily what you see here either, it can be what ever you like.. It could very well be full cascade or even a half cascade or wind swept or many other styles, maybe even upright just decide on a style and then go for it. 

 This particular shrub now trained to look like a tree was originally growing straight up and then we had a very large amount of snow one year and it bent the main branch back down and in almost a reverse position making the main branch twist backwards back and up over the plant giving the trunk an even more interesting look and style.

  So it was then decided to leave it in that position rather than trying too bring it back straight. So mother nature decided the style of this tree and she did a pretty good job if you ask me.

 You can find this juniper in most nurseries and I hope you find one and start your own as bonsai as they do make a special one for sure. Try too start with at least a one gallon size and work it from there.

Thanks, for reading,
By: Harold Yearout ©Copyright 2014 Harold Yearout All Rights Reserved for more information feel free to contact me: h.yearout@gmail.com