Sunday, January 24, 2010
Fantastic Junipers
This is a Shore Juniper (J. procumbens) by master bonsai innovator, Masahiko Kimura. It combinse the sculptural look that has been favored by some Japanese bonsai artists with a more wild, ruged natural look that is in favour in much for the world bonsai community. If bonsai is an art, then the categories are continually being broken down as artist play, explore and inovate. And no bonsai artist that has played, explored and inovated more successfuly thanMaster Kimura.
Junipers are tough, durable and flexible and pruneable. They don’t mind having their roots hacked and they take to container culture. Their needles tend to be small and dense and both their needles and bark come in a range of attractive colours and textures. Perhaps best of all, junipers take to carving like few other plants and their deadwood is both attractive and long lasting especially if you keep it clean and apply lime sulfur.
Dwarf Japanese garden juniper. One thing I do know is that it is unmistakably a Procumbens nana; a dwarf cultivar of the Procumbnes. Procumbens nana is by far the most popular juniper for beginners, at least here in the States. However, you seldom see a masterpiece, as the trunks tend to stay too thin. The trunk on this one is about a thick as they ever get.
Labels:
bark,
bonsai artist,
dwarf,
juniper,
Juniper bonsai,
needle,
Procumbens nana,
prune,
root,
wire
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