Shimpaku Juniper

Have had this shimpaku juniper for 15 years. Never quite sure about a design.

Considering transforming it into a mame:

Thoughts? Other suggestions?

2 Likes

Hi @Richard_D
Best place to start is a good clean up. Remove flaws which will get worse over time. Work out what is dead and what is alive etc. Play with your planting angles and then sleep on it. If you have waited 15 years don’t rush into giving it a style someone on a forum suggests.

4 Likes

… Having said that, if you are looking at removing the bulk of the tree to the right, maybe think about how much dead wood you want? You could wait until spring and air layer the top off?

Thanks Andy. Was thinking about an airlayering as you suggest. Have waited 15 years, so yes, I can wait another 6 months before making that move.

To establish it as a mame or even a shohin you need to start pruning the foliage so that little by little the scale of the needles starts to shrink down ( a shame you weren’t doing that for the last 5 years ). About 5 years from now , it will be a perfect little tree with the foliage reflecting its scale with the trunk. IMHO