San Jose Juniper
As every bonsai enthusiast knows, late autumn and winter is the time to prowl nurseries for cheap bonsai material. Cathy and I stopped at a new nursery last Tuesday. There wasn’t much there that looked like it had any bonsai potential. I was heading out, when Cathy called me to come look at this juniper she had spotted. It was in a five gallon container. Its neighbors were not interesting, and in this part of the country a five gallon nursery plant is expensive. Well, when I looked closely it was different from all its neighbors. The trunk was 4″ (11cm) in diameter. It was labelled a San Jose juniper, a plant native to the U.S. west coast and very popular bonsai material. There was no price on the tree. A nurseryman looked it over and went inside to look on his computer for a five gallon San Jose juniper. Their computer only showed junipers in 2 gallon containers. Computers speak with such authority, even when they are wrong. He shrugged his shoulders, and said I could have it for the 2 gallon price, about US$60. Sold! The tree is worth two or three times that much.
San Jose juniper, about 3′ (1 meter) diameter
San Jose juniper, 4″ (11cm) diameter trunk
San Jose juniper showing three branches
The plant is very root bound. The bottom of the plastic bucket is bulging out. I’ll work on it at the end of February. The roots will be Gordian knot. I’ll put it in the ground so new roots closer to the surface can develop. It will take a three or four years to bring some order to them. The one branch that crosses under another will have to go. The remaining branches will have to be trimmed back when I work on the roots. I’ll have a few years to consider what to do with styling. By the time I’m seventy five, I’ll have a real beauty.
Posted by in 05:59:45
what a beautiful post. the longevity of it.
M, bonsai is a really slow sport, so slow that the play can take a few generations.