I acquired a number of field-grown shimpaku junipers earlier this year. Most are growing well. Healthy juniper The best signs of health, in this case, are the green color and the handful of elongating shoots at the ends of the upper branches. Vigorous shoot Here’s another healthy juniper that produced a lot of growth this […]
Shimpaku
Removing wire from an old grafted Shimpaku
If you haven’t checked the wired trees in your garden to see if any wire is cutting in, now’s a good time to do so. I often wire a lot of trees over winter or in early spring and by this time of year a lot of the wires have started to cut in. This […]
Planting medium for shimpaku cuttings
A few months ago I started a number of shimpaku cuttings. Several different soils were scattered around the workshop so I tried some of each to see if it made much of a difference. I did a similar experiment several years back and found a huge difference between soils (see “Shimpaku cuttings” for details). This […]
Kimura’s shimpaku bonsai
I didn’t get a chance to share many of the great bonsai I saw in Japan this past winter and thought now would be a good time for it. We can start with some junipers from Kimura’s garden. The shimpaku below is a great example of a well-balanced bonsai. The trunk starts by moving up and […]
Shimpaku at Kokufu 90
For spring break this year, I’ll share a few photos from February’s Kokufu exhibit in Tokyo. First up – a large, well-balanced shimpaku with great movement and deadwood. Shimpaku Regular posts will return in two weeks – see you then!