Reworking a Taiwan Juniper

A great honor to work on this Taiwan Juniper, owned by a client of Andrew Robson’s, here in the States. It’s not common to see one of this quality traipse through Oregon. 

Taiwan Juniper isn’t at its best in northern continental climates. I see them throw out a lot of juvenile growth there. And lose branches. They appear to do better in warmer climates. 

This tree was wired many times in the past. Last week we did maintenance rework—cutting back to profile and then wiring what remained. Only two larger branches of about 10” were cut off the left side. 

Taiwan Juniper before rework. Though these trees look like yamadori, they aren’t. They are grown from cutting in the warm humidity of a tropical climate. Big trees are possible in several decades from a twig. When I taught at the big Taiwan convention in 2017 I was stunned by their size and quality. This is a moderate-sized one. 

After cleaning the live vein and thinning the foliage.

Carmen in the final tweak stage. By the time we’d gotten around to working on this tree the cold weather had set in, and the foliage had turned a bit yellow. 

Our final tree. Shari cleaned up, with light lime sulfur applied. Branches shortened on right and left—that was quite the wingspan before—and scrunching down the mopish canopy. Because the wood of cutting-grown junipers is laid down in wider growth rings than yamadori, the wood decomposes faster, and the shari looks older than it is. Can be a good idea to brush on wood hardener.