Foemina Juniper Revisit, With Design Comments

A Foemina Juniper in 2023, after its first styling.

Foemina in early July, 2026. Letting bonsai get shaggy is a good now and then to help build energy and momentum, especially with trees like this Foemina which is left to grow out each year. But if left too long it is hard to get back to ideal canopy size without major rework.

After trimming the shoots back with scissors.

A few future adjustments: bring the right top in slightly. And let the bottom branches fill out a touch. At present the top is heavy and the bottom is thin.

Also, I’ve done something naughty.

First, let’s talk about what is normally done with foliage pads. In normal bonsai composition, mini-pads break up the big pads so they don’t look so heavy. Above, the lowest foliage pad would feel heavy without the small mini-pad that rises towards the left.

Usually, the mini-pads rise in the direction of the trunk. This provides visual stability.

An example of the usual way of organizing foliage from the 2026 Kokufu Show. The small pads on the inside rise towards the trunk. That means the largest, lowest parts of foliage are low and on the outside, which grounds the tree and stabilizes wild, dynamic trunks, like this one.

Now for the naughtiness.

The lowest branch’s mini-pad rises to the left, so the one above it, on the same side of the trunk, should do the same for optimum stability. But the pad above it has the opposite orientation—the mini-pad is to the right, not the left.

Toying with the pad construction on this tree lends a bit of dynamism to an upright trunk. With the crown to the left of the base it’s a leaning tree, which is already a dynamic design. And while out-of-synch branch pads can add movement and excitement, it can be overdone, an argument for keeping that middle, naughty branch small.

Here’s the first styling of the Foemina.