Taming the three headed beast

I have this parson’s juniper I picked up at a few years ago at a wholesale landscape nursery for cheap.
I mean, like $5, in a 3 gallon container size. It has Beautiful trunk but, that’s it.
He might have given it to me for free even, after a large purchase of ilex schillings.
The juniper wasn’t in a “Florida A+” growing grade so he wanted to get rid of it.
I got it in the month of May and the soil had degraded a bit so I slip-potted it into a slightly bigger pot to gain strength.
Last January I put it into a training pot with bonsai soil.
Um….here it is today….

I know.
I mean, like, jeez, what a lemon.
It has a good trunk-

But, what the hell?
What can you do with these?


Besides try to ward off the beast with a hand gesture (SHOUT! SHOUT! Shout at the devil!)
Of course I could grow it for 5 more years and get it to bud back and all that, like a well behaved bonsai guy should do……
But…..nahhh.
These branches are bendable.

Let’s see what we can do.
I have one word for you: raffia.
I have three more words for you: self-amalgamating tape.
Raffia is a natural palm fiber that is usually used for crafty things like, well, I’m not sure…let’s google-ize it…..
That was an education. The raffia palm tree is an important crop in Africa and the island of Madagascar. Not only is rope, clothing and mats woven from the fibers (or fibres, as it was written on the wiki page, probably by some British bloke) but one can tap the tree for its sap (it kills the tree but, weirdly, this tree dies after flowering anyway) and make an alcoholic drink out of it. Which then can be distilled to make Ogogoro, which a further wiki search (I’ve graduated from the googles to the wikis) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogogoro reveals….well, you’ll have to read it yourself.
This is a blog about a bonsai tree and I’m about to do some serious work on it.
But the Ogogoro will fortify my courage.
A little sip of some “Craze Man in a Bottle” and I’ll be…tight, ready.
Self-amalgamating tape is a kind of electrical tape that doesn’t have adhesives on it but it sticks to itself.
It’s used by the discerning electricians and bonsai artists world wide for its ease of use and coolness factor.
And damn it if I’m not cool.
You’d have a beer with me, right?
My buddy Nick had gotten it because he dislikes raffia (of which you must wet when you use and he’s a computer guy who doesn’t like the wet work) and I promptly stole it for my own use.
I haven’t explained what the S-A tape or the raffia is for yet, have I?
Basically (I’ve explained this in previous posts a whole lot better) it keeps the branch from breaking when (as you shall see) you wrap the branch tightly with either of these (and other products even. One could use duct tape or, if you can acquire it, Chuck Norris’ hair, if you want).
It works, trust me.
Have I dissembled enough?
Back to work then Lavigne!
I’ll be using the S-A tape today because, like I said, I’m cool like that….

Wrap it as such that you have an overlap of about half.



And then I use three heavy wires (why three? Because four is forbidden.)

Then I break out my trusty, hand forged, home made branch bender.

Ready?
Ok, first bend:

Well now….
2nd bend, side view:

As I did with the Hollywood juniper, I’m going to place the main branches and trunk first and then wire the secondary’s.



How’s that?
Like a boss, right?
I’m a like a bonsai rockstar…..

‘Ya feelin’ me?
Sorry, got carried away there.
Won’t happen again.
Back to the tree….
Time for some Jin

I was waiting to kill off this branch until after I bent the other two, just in case I broke them.

And you must agree, a juniper just needs some proper deadwood.
Now the wiring…
For reference

Side view:

Rear view:

Dramatic photoshopped Instagram view:

(@adamaskwhy…..look me up)
Before all the work:

And after:

Actually, that’s not quite right, it needs to be tilted a bit like so….

This being the very first styling, the tree is, of course, very rough, but it has good bones now; the structure is set and it just needs to fill in now.
The foliage pads will be pulled in tighter and present more of a canopy.
Though I like to see inside the tree more than how some of the more modern juniper stylings are presented. Especially if there is deadwood, a more natural look wouldn’t have half the tree jinned, sharied and hollowed but have a massive mushroom head on top.
As always, I will update you all on the progress or (hopefully not) the demise if this juniper.