This tree is a perfect example of finding a nursery tree that can be purchase and turned into a very nice Bonsai tree in less than a year. This tree is not totally finished but is well on its way. But it can be done if you take your time looking and go looking more then once or twice a year.
More information on Juniperous Procumbens “Nana” can be found HERE.
This is my second Juniperous Procumbens “Nana” bonsai tree that I have taken photos of. I purchased this tree in the very early spring days of 2020 from Nicks Garden Center in Aurora. The Center was just starting to put out trees for the season. I was just kind of walking around not looking for anything in particular and I spotted a very big juniper of some kind from a distance. I immediately went over to look at it. It was a large Procumbens in a 5 gallon pot. I checked the trunk out and went got a cart and loaded her up. Yep, its a female with berries. I took tree down to the International Bonsai Master Larry Jackels study group at the Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield location to work on the tree. Its a greenhouse so its fairly warm to work in. I gave the tree an initial styling and cleaned it up and jin’d a number of large branches that were not going to work in the finally design. I did apply some rather large aluminum wire on a couple of branches to move them into a better location on the tree. The tree was left alone after this and allowed to grow all summer with Plant Tone fertilizer being applied on a regular basis and spraying for spider mites. The tree was placed under 30% shade cloth during the hottest part of the summer 90 degrees + (f). It stayed there until late fall. The tree was transferred as is into the garage for the winter. I did bring the tree into a bedroom in the house around 12/7/2020 to finish working on it. There branches everywhere. Where to start was the first problem. I originally intended the tree to be a semi-cascade because it had some very nice thick branches that naturally drooped over the pot. I started on these branches. I wired them out and they pretty much struck straight out the trunk. I then started working on some of the branches that were drooping down lower then the others. I started working my way around the tree and it dawned on me that the semi-cascade branches could not be seen to well from the front of the tree. That would have to be fixed and modified. I added some very large wire to the main branch and pullied it over to the front side of the tree. The remaining semi-cascade branches were then used to support this main branch but used in a more traditional manner. I continued to wire out the tree and was trying to come up with a not so tall tree but a wide powerful looking the tree. The size of the trunk was around 1 1/2 inches wide. Which is very big for a nursery tree. It was going to be a big wide powerful looking tree when finished. I finished moving branches into position to make the tree look very mature with lots of foliage on it. I think I accomplished this goal. It took a lot of time to wire out all of the branches with aluminum wire. I discovered I could watch on demand videos on my tv in the bedroom. So I watched several Star Wars, Harry Potter, Gladiator, and a few other ones while working on the tree. I then discovered you can now watch free movies on Youtube. What could be better working on a tree in a warm bedroom while watching free movies. Plus you can pause the movies at any time. Finally this tree was done but it was very cold and snowing outside. The tree needed to be watered. I took the tree out today and the temp was 42 (f) and watered it good. I moved it into the garage and moved another juniper into the house for round two on it.
The jins are not completed on the tree and will be worked on later.
Here is a gallery of the tree taken today 12/16/2020, the photos do not do the tree any justice at all:
