Rocky Mountain Juniper 2

In 2012, the Nebraska Bonsai Society hosted Suthin Sukosolvisit for a workshop at Finke Gardens in Lincoln. Suthin worked tirelessly during his stay, styling trees non-stop. This RMJ was one of the last and used for our public demonstration. This tree has changed hands several times. It was originally collected by Todd Schlafer, then acquired by Don Blackmond. Dave Verbik of Omaha then acquired the tree from Don and offered it for the demonstration. I acquired this tree as part of the Verbik collection. Here is a photo from Todd shortly afer collecting...

There was a bit of a debate on whether the top portion of the tree would be maintained. The owner wanted to keep it and make it a larger tree, while Suthin wanted to remove the top portion and create a more powerful image, shaping the crown out of the bottom/main branch. "When you have a tree like this, everything is possible," said Suthin. The decision to leave the top portion had a significant impact on the tree's appearance today.

Here is a shaky video of a portion of the styling...

After the styling by Suthin, the tree was left to grow freely for several years. These photos are from late winter/early spring of this year, shortly after I acquired it.

In the spring of 2016, Peter Tea made a return visit to Lincoln and restyled the tree, choosing a different front. Because the tree was so outgrown, the foliage that remained on tree was left to grow freely, rather than cutting back during the styling. I performed a minor reduction, removing some of the long extensions this past week. There is a portion of the live vein that is fairly flat, so this will be reduced to create a rounded appearance in the future.