Why I Oughta...

For the past few years (planted in 2019), we've had a creeping/crawling Juniper shrub planted in a patio container out back.  I put it in this container and attempted to prune it a little bit and wire it up when I was focused on trying my hand at bonsai .   Two years later (Spring of 2021), I was seeing some wire damage and (for now) abandoned the project .  My thought was....let this thing grow a bit more, then let's revisit it for pruning and shaping as it is more mature.   On a recent walk in the backyard, I came across (or...really...'noticed') this shrub in the container and I was (temporarily) alarmed.  Look at it in the photo below.  It is maroon-ish/green.  Or, I suppose, one could view it as greenish/maroon-ish/brown-ish/grey-ish?  Is that a color? (That is a lot of 'ishes'.) I snapped that photo and then went looking back in the garden diary here.  I found this post from two years ago - December of 2020 .  Good news:  it was (then) the same color as to

A few seasons ago, I planted a juniper shrub in the nursery pot IN the ground in an attempt to begin to grow some 'pre-bonsai' material .  I planted one that way and one directly in the ground.  Turns out, the one in the ground has grown quite a bit while the one in the nursery container has suffered.   Earlier this Spring, I decided to abanondon that pre-bonsai idea and just DIRECTLY plant the evergreen shrubs in the beds - that includes this Bird's Nest Spruce that I need to do the same way .   While I was out planting the Green Giant Thujas, I decided to deal with the juniper -which...at the time I didn't know the species. I dug up the can and found this label that reads: Juniper Pfitzeriana Aurea . Here (below) is a look at the one that I left in the ground and the hole from this juniper shrub: And, here (below) is where I transplanted it:  next to the urn in the northside bed - which moved it a bit closer to the front/middle of the bed where it can provide some f

 Back in October of 2020, I posted some photos showing a juniper cultivar that I have kept in a large patio container for the past few seasons and talked about how I had wrapped some wire around some of the limbs as I began to learn how to bonsai the past few seasons.  I overwintered this container both inside the screened porch and then, due to A LOT of fungus gnats, ended up moving it back outside. This is the same juniper that I posted snow-covered back in February that really got my brain going on bonsai for 2021, so when the snow melted, I immediately went and looked at the state of the tree.  And, it turns out, the wire that I wrapped on the tree (either in 2020 or 2019) was on far too long and too tight.  Because there's quite a bit of wire damage.  You can see it below, but it was on their so long that it was difficult to remove as the tree began to grow AROUND the wire. This is a tree that I'll move work pretty hard this year ( it is #2 on my 2021 Bonsai to-do list  a

I started working my very first bonsai experience back a couple of years ago with a nursery-stock cypress tree that I ended up killing.  I pruned it far too hard and pushed it the first year and it dried out and died.  That same Summer (2019), I bought a few other nursery stock junipers and decided to give them a very light pruning and left them alone.  I dug a couple of them IN the ground , in their pots and put another one in a large container on the patio .  I brought that large container into the screened porch this fall and removed much of the wire that had been on this tree (because it was growing AROUND the wire).  But, the time in from the weather was short lived.  It turned out to be infested with fungus gnats (or something similar) and after figuring things out, I pushed it back outside hoping that a hard frost would kill off the gnats.  Today, that pot is totally covered in snow.  Here's how it looks after being piled on for the past month or so. That's more than a

Yesterday, I posted a photo and talked about this 'unknown Juniper' that is in a large container on our patio.  In that post, I mentioned the other two Junipers that I have in the ground - Youngstown and Chinese.  I bought them as small $5 nursery stock from Home Depot and at kept them around the patio all season while I tried (it was hard) to NOT prune them too much.  My goal is to work them into tree-form as I learn (just a little bit) about bonsai.   I've documented my "bonsai journey" over the past few years on the blog and you can find those posts here .  I've learned (and killed) from one tree and have tried to be patient.   At the end of the season, I read that it is smart to dig them into the ground to overwinter them in their containers (people do this with all sorts of bonsai pots).  So, that's what I did:  dug up a couple of holes, stuck the junipers - pots and all - directly in the ground, covered them and tried to mulch them in with leaves.

 On our back patio, we have a container with a small conifer that I'm not sure the cultivar.  I bought it last year and worked on it a little bit - as there is some wire on parts of it - but I'm not sure which kind of juniper it really is at this point.  I have two junipers - Youngstown and Chinese - that I have in containers that I planted in the ground .  My plan is to dig them up next Spring and give them another haircut/style.  My Bonsai journey has been one of buying some nursery stock initially and KILLING my first one.  In a matter of months.  Due to over-pruning it, I think.  As a result of that experience, I've kinda taken the 'lazy bonsai' route on these - by giving them an initial wiring up and then planting them (in their containers to restrict the roots) in the ground (or in this case in a larger container).  By next year, all three will hopefully able to handle a little bit of pruning. Here is the unknown Juniper that has grown nicely in the container

Earlier this year, I bought a couple of small (less than $10) junipers at the Home Depot and began to prune them a little bit to make them into a shape that would be more bonsai-like.  This year, I just started my bonsai-journey with a small Cypress - and overpruned it.  It ended up dying.  I think it was a combination of OVER-pruning and putting it into a bonsai pot prematurely so it dried out.  I decided to learn my lesson with these two other junipers:  A Youngstown Juniper .  And a Chinese Juniper .  With both of those, I cleaned up some of the limbs and established a clear leader.  I didn't do any wiring or cleaning up of the roots.  But, instead left them in their nursery containers.  We live in Zone 5B - in Northern Illinois - so we have a couple of choices with Winter coming: 1. Overwinter bonsai in climate controlled environment. Ideally in a place that keeps the temperature right at 34 degrees. Greenhouse or quonset hut that is heated and vented to keep the

Yesterday, I posted a photo of the Youngstown Juniper that I bought at Home Depot to work into a bonsai tree and mentioned that I also picked up another tree.  Here's that tree:  A Chinese Juniper 'Pfitzeriana Aurea'.  Same deal:  from Home Depot in Darien in a #1 pot that cost less than $10.  Above you can see the tree that includes some gold-ish needles in the new growth.  Below, you can see a close-up of the tag. This will be a tree that I'll work on in a similar fashion to the Youngstown Juniper.  I'm aware that since these things are so small that the trunks are very thin - and it is going to take a LONG time to work this into anything substantial.  But...it is a cheap way for me to work on some pruning techniques, right? This will make three nursery stock trees that I've started.  I also have identified a tree on our property - it is a cut-down of one of the American Elms that the U of I Master Gardener identified - that I am going to try to ha

Back in the beginning of May, I posted a few photos of a piece of nursery stock from Home Depot that was a Cedar tree and talked about how I was beginning to go down the bonsai journey .  At the time, I knew that I was better off pulling some cheap ($10) pieces off the shelf from Home Depot, work them a bit and see what happens versus say...buying an *already* trained and pruned bonsai tree.   Then, just last week, I posted an update on how I think I might have GONE TOO FAR with my first tree .   I pruned the heck out of it.  And..I worked the roots.  Doing both at the same time is not a good idea, but I have to say...live and learn.  Right?  That Cedar tree is basically done for the season.  I've put it in a bonsai pot and now I am just keeping an eye on it with water - which...the pot that I put it in has a tray below it - and that meant that the water ran through the pot, but was sticking around underneath it...thus keeping the feet of the plant wet for a few days.  Once I d