hey y'all its me again.just wanted to throw out a teaser, instead of doing the whole prosess at once.well to start the story i bought a juni 2 years ago to go into my front garden it was a 1 foot ball shape and it fit well in its place.it has since grown a pretty long "tail" which i have been slightly shaping since it appeared and it just doesn't belong anymore.i figured it was trying to tell me something with the tail that grew so i put my ear to it and i heard ...cascade bonsai . anyway to make a long story eternal (unless i kill the poor thing)3 days ago i dug him up and the process begins



1-1/2 hours later...the ground was dry,hard as a rock and i foung 3 bricks ??? plus this sucker weighed a ton







well after hammering dirt off rakeing out roots and fighting with the red ant colony that was residing in the roots i rinsed them amd prepared his new home
i filled the bottom 1/3 with gravel and plated the pot with a stone.





well heres the new home for now...





is been 2 days of pruning and wireing and im not done yet :huh: :dry: :ohmy: y'all will have to wait for the transformation

Nice... I like how you listen and talk to your plants. Thank goodness I'm not the only one! :woohoo: It looks pretty good so far for what you have in mind, and I can't wait to see what the after pictures are like!

That's just brilliant, Keith. It's a natural! Did you *really* put your ear to the juniper and listen??? Good work and great vision. Wish I could see the pruning and wiring work you've done. It must be very tedious work with all those needles. Can't wait to see what comes next.

Leslie

LOL no i didn't acually hear anything i think that would make me crazy it was just the thought that poped in my head...hmmm maybe trees are telepathic :silly: well its been 3 days ,a few hours a day and this is what i ended up with...omg what did i do



i kept looking at the cutting pile and it kept growing and growing...
this is my inital cut in to get a look at the trunk srtucture and try to figure were to go



this ones after some carefull prunning to open it up and to reveal some of the branch structure.i also did a little wireing to put branches into place so i can figure out the others



and here he is...it definately needs to grow the top more and the tail needs to fill out but i am surprised and happy with the results. this happens to be my biggest b-tree now, the pot is 20inches around to give some referance

You did a great job, well done! The raw material was very potential because of all the branches and styles you could make out of it. This cascade looks great after his first styling.

Keep us posted!

What you did, Keith is an awesome job! Way to go! I really like what you did with the wired branches.

Woodcarvers believe that it is the *spirit* of the wood that speaks to us, guiding our creative journey...especially when working with "found" wood.

Thanks for sharing such wonderful photos of your work. I learn so much from them along with your accompanying explanations. Looking forward to your continuing progession.

Leslie

leslie,

i think thats why i like bonsai so much...i don't have to leave them behind

You were the one I quoted! Now if I could only go back and find where I quoted you...
I love your juniper so far. You've done such a great job with it! Keep up the good work!

:sick: :sick: arrrg!!! i hate when this happens all your praise may be in vain you may have just witnessed a beautiful way to kill a tree.it is slowly drying out, i beleive the tail has died and half of the top doesn't look too good either.hopfully something will survive.this is the second time this has happened. i had a flowering srub i moved to a pot.it looked like a wonderfull mature bonsai when it was potted and it didn't make it. man i hate killing trees i won't even have a live christmas tree for that reason

Hmmm, makes me wonder if you could successfully root a Christmas tree in water. I really hope your juniper survives, maybe re-dig the hole it came from and put it back? Then once it's recovered you could try again. I know I have to be careful with my little texas ebony because it has a tendency to die back after clipping, maybe that's what's happening?