I just purchased a Shimpaku juniper on sale at a garden center because I like its trunk and branch structure. I'm eager to style it, but it's August in the mid-Atlantic US where I live, so I'll have wait at least a while, I think. Can a juniper handle pruning in late Summer or early Autumn, or should I just be patient and wait until next Spring?

Thanks for any advice!

The main risk is that your tree will use so little water in fall, that the roots quite litterally, drown in water. If you can shelter it during heavy rains, it should be OK.

I have styled most of my junipers in winter.

belliott4488 wrote:

but it's August in the mid-Atlantic US where I live

lol

... nothing funny about that, Auk!

<duplicate comment edited>

leatherback wrote:

The main risk is that your tree will use so little water in fall, that the roots quite litterally, drown in water. If you can shelter it during heavy rains, it should be OK.

I have styled most of my junipers in winter.

I'm not considering root-pruning before next Spring, when I'll re-pot it. I'd just like to remove some branches that know I won't keep, like lower ones and young shoots in wrong places. It's also tempting to shorten some longer branches, but I can wait if that will be too stressful.
What I'm really asking is how resilient junipers are to branch pruning. Can it be too stressful if I do it during the Summer?

It is August here in Brasil also.
A coincidence?

Clicio wrote:

It is August here in Brasil also.
A coincidence?

That's amazing! And here I was thinking that it's Winter in the Southern hemisphere ....

Note to all who are fortunate enough not to live where I do: "August in the mid-Atlantic" is neither a month nor a place. It is a miserable condition.

belliott4488 wrote:

Note to all who are fortunate enough not to live where I do: "August in the mid-Atlantic" is neither a month nor a place. It is a miserable condition.

hahahahahaha, I bet!