The Juniper probably the first type of bonsai that comes to mind when the average person thinks of bonsai and with good reason. With their beautiful green leaves and it's lovely bark, it's the first choice of many bonsai masters. Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus. Depending on who you ask there, there are between 50-67 species of Juniper.

When you find a "bonsai seller" at the side of the road or at the mall selling little junipers in pots, chances are pretty good you are looking at a J.Procombens nana, the ubiquitous Dwarf Japanese Garden Juniper. And that's what I chose one Saturday to see what I could do with a less than perfect specimen. I must admit, I was surprised with the results.

I picked up this pretty sad looking J.P.n at my local nursery. Surprisingly, it was the best one I could find in a large batch of trees. Not very good pickings that day. I grabbed this guy just because it stood taller than the rest. I really did not see any redeeming quality in it, but I felt up for the challenge.

This is what it looked like at first.

The other side.

Taking a little off and seeing what's there.

Other side.

It was time to start wiring and move things around. I thought I would experiment wrapping my extreme bends using a perforated medical tape instead of raffia... mostly because I didn't have any raffia.

Tape - 3M Transpore

My first wrap

A bunch of wraps and wires later...

I got it out of the nasty soil it was in and cleaned the roots well using a garden hose and chopstick. This pot is just for training. It's not even a bonsai pot, but I thought it would play the part well enough until the tree is ready for something smaller and better.

Cleaned, prepped and ready for potting.

Now it's time to let time do it's thing.

Thank you for taking the time to read my posts.
Ed Mercado