Bonsai Accessories

Bonsai Trees

CHINESE JUNIPERS, with their scale foliage pressed tightly to the shoots, are the perfect species group for beginners and experienced artists alike.

Junipers have everything: flexibility, dense foliage, hardiness, resilience and a predictability that is matched by few other species. By carefully manipulating the branches and shoots on a dense juniper, you can create an almost complete bonsai image in a single session.

The most notable feature of Chinese junipers, however, is their natural method of economizing. They shut off water and nutrient supply to certain branches in times of environmental stress or even as a part of the natural aging process. These branches eventually become stripped and bleached by the elements to form bone-colored jins and sharis. Far from indicating that the plant is in poor condition, the appearance of natural jins means that it is behaving exactly as it should.

The opportunity to use the palette of colors offered by the orange-red underbark, the rich green foliage and the bleached deadwood—as well as their malleability cooperation—make Chinese junipers the most sculpturally obliging of all bonsai.