order: pinales
family: cupressaceae
genus: juniperus
species: chinensis
In August 2012, as the summer was at its hottest, we went down to Arcen in the Netherlands to attend the yearly koi show. On the show there were also a bonsai exhibition and stands selling small young plants meant to be trained into bonsai. There were many Chinese junipers styled into miniature bonsai on sale. I was about to bring home one of those, but the friend I went with kept on dissuading me, saying the price was too high and that I should at least get a bigger plant to begin with. Eventually I put the chosen tree back to the shelf. Once back home, I regretted greatly.
My friend must have sensed my regret or have been irritated by it that he offered to help me find one on ebay. I couldn't believe we were very fortunate to be able to beat one on ebay. The seller had two of his Chinese junipers for sale. I was actually interested in his other tree but the price went way too high. I won this half-cascade form juniper by outbidding the other bidder by only 0.24 EUR. It was SOOOO close! You can imagine how happy I was.
After the plant arrived in my garden, I mostly let it grow freely, keeping trimming to near zero. I wanted it to grow strong and put on more foliage, which it did. Frequent feeding and consistent watering resulted in tight and healthy-looking foliage. Next year, I'm going to have to thin out some of the foliage masses, so that inner branches will not go bald. I just hope nobody is going to steal it from my garden.
family: cupressaceae
genus: juniperus
species: chinensis
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| Chinese juniper in autumn 2013. |
In August 2012, as the summer was at its hottest, we went down to Arcen in the Netherlands to attend the yearly koi show. On the show there were also a bonsai exhibition and stands selling small young plants meant to be trained into bonsai. There were many Chinese junipers styled into miniature bonsai on sale. I was about to bring home one of those, but the friend I went with kept on dissuading me, saying the price was too high and that I should at least get a bigger plant to begin with. Eventually I put the chosen tree back to the shelf. Once back home, I regretted greatly.
My friend must have sensed my regret or have been irritated by it that he offered to help me find one on ebay. I couldn't believe we were very fortunate to be able to beat one on ebay. The seller had two of his Chinese junipers for sale. I was actually interested in his other tree but the price went way too high. I won this half-cascade form juniper by outbidding the other bidder by only 0.24 EUR. It was SOOOO close! You can imagine how happy I was.
After the plant arrived in my garden, I mostly let it grow freely, keeping trimming to near zero. I wanted it to grow strong and put on more foliage, which it did. Frequent feeding and consistent watering resulted in tight and healthy-looking foliage. Next year, I'm going to have to thin out some of the foliage masses, so that inner branches will not go bald. I just hope nobody is going to steal it from my garden.
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