This post will be a double whammy. Not only will I be showing how to prune and clean up a young juniper bonsai to prepare for Spring, but I'll also be introducing it here on Steemit for the first time from my collection.

You can skip ahead to the most interesting parts below:

• About This Tree
• Pruning & Winter Clean-Up
• Do's and Don'ts
• Challenges
• End Results
• Bonus Photo

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Not sure how in the world I could have possibly forgotten this tree when I was sharing my collection last summer here on Steemit. It's been in my collection for a long time, and has always been in this same quirky little pot.

The pot shows an old fisherman sitting on a rock. He is fishing in a pond next to a mountain cliff.

ID: 0009
Nickname: Maleficent (alt: Allison)
Type: Juniper
Age: 5 years?
Grown: purchased from nursery
Last repotting: spring 2016?
Wired: Never

About This Tree

Rather than reprint information I found on the internet and spit it out here, I always prefer to share insights I have gained in my own learning from working with a tree, and things people have told me, or I remember in the past from watching videos of others.

I do know that this tree likes being near water sources, like a fountain or bird path in the yard. While a full grown Juniper loves being in full sun, this tree has very shallow roots inside a dark pot, and so it prefers a slightly cooler, slightly shady spot in the yard. One of the advantages of the pot it is growing in, is that it has a built in area separated from the tree for a fresh water pond feature. This is the only pot I have that combines the tree, the rock feature, and a water feature all in one.

Being near a grassy lawn is also great for this tree, as the morning dew will evaporate and moisturize this tree, and keep it slightly cool. This kind of tree can thrive on rocky, rugged terrain on mountains, which means it can tolerate dry arid winds, and extreme temperatures, but it does rely on the rocks to provide a mulch to help it retain water though periods of drought. So I have learned to always use an extremely course, rocky mixture when I repot this tree. For some reason, Juniper is one of the few trees that does not grow well in akadama clay, as it will rot the roots and introduce diseases. It is better to use lava rock and pumice without any clay. I learned this only recently this year, so I'll be improving the soil next time I repot it.

Can you guess why I decided to nickname this tree Maleficent?

In the Disney cartoon classic film, and later the live-action movie, Maleficent was once a faerie with unrivaled beauty and grace. Even though she became very old and ancient, she was an immortal being, and retained those qualities. However, the years did not treat her well, and she eventually became a wicked and cruel demon, because she felt betrayed and scorned by the King who would not apologize for breaking her heart. In the live-action movie, because the King cut off her feathered wings, Maleficent became a fell, fallen faerie, forever confined to the boundaries of the earth. So she devised a plan for revenge. She cursed the King's daughter, so that on her sixteen's birthday she would be fated to prick her finger on the needle of a spinning wheel, and die. Fortunately, one of the other faeries of the land was able reverse the last part of the curse, so that the King's daughter would not die, and instead all the Kingdom would fall asleep instead, until love's first kiss might break the curse, and true love conquers all.

Like Maleficent, my tree is cursed with many cruel needles and thorns. These needles are sharp enough to puncture thick skin deeply with the slightest touch. The shape of the needles on the springing branches causes the needles jab into the skin like thrusting swords, going in as deep as possible to inflict immediate pain. Ouch!

With that said, my goal this weekend was to clean up this little demon.

I get asked in the comments frequently how I decide what to prune, and what to leave alone. It is understandably very confusing, because every tree I have pruned so far has had radically different results. Some of them end up looking butchered at the end, and others look relatively unscathed. It depends largely on the way the tree grows, and whether or not it needs any help from me, the grower, to enhance its appeal as a bonsai tree. For the most part I try to stick to certain bonsai rules for pruning that are going to improve the ascetics of the tree for the upcoming growing season. I'm not usually thinking years ahead what the effects of my actions will be. I'm still a novice.

Here is my plan for this tree...

Pruning & Winter Clean-Up

• Step One: remove any dead branches.
• Step Two: remove dead needles.
• Step Three: eliminate weak buds growing on the under side of branches, in the nooks between branch divisions, and in places where it is crossing back towards the center of the tree.
• Step Four: shorten or remove branches that are touching other branches by crossing over and under them. Sometimes shorten branches so they are not shading out other branches. Open up spaces for light and air to touch all healthy branches.
• Step Five: remove branch ends that are too long. Anything sticking out too far should be shortened to match the size of nearby branch ends. Preserve the silhouette of the tree so it stays the shape and size desired.

Do's and Don'ts:

• Don't use electric shears to hedge it into a perfect dome or geometric shape. It will look very unnatural for juniper.
• Do use fingers to twist off branch ends and buds. It heals better than using a blade, and it promotes back buds and growth.
• Don't remove too many buds along branches, leaving only one or two on the end. Once the branch is bare, it will never back-bud there ever again on a juniper.
• Do remove all the needles along the parts of branches that will be wired, because wiring will damage and constrict the needles against the branch and wire.
• Don't peel needles off by pulling along the grain of the wood. It might strip the bark attached to the needle.
• Do snap off needles with quick up or downward motions across the grain of the branches. It will sever from the wood more cleanly.

Challenges:

Pruners will cut needles clean against the wood, but are too big to cut between needles, such as when there is one dead needle between green ones. My small shears will only slice through the needles, leaving a stub, not flush against the wood. You practically have to stab your finger into the tree needle just to hold it still so it doesn't slip out from the blades of the shears. Sharp needles drawing blood, and scissoring blades slicing quickly next to my fingertips? No thank you!

Yes, that means most of the work done of this tree has to be done by hand. I found that pinching with my index finger to the nail of my thumb worked the best to snap off green needles. Dead needles were easier to remove, as they would fall off by scraping any blade tool gently along a branch. Branch ends had to be twisted off by hand in between my fingers, and that was sometimes painful. Gloves can't be used because it would make the fingers less nimble. I ended up with many prick marks along the sides of my thumbs, and around the knuckle behind the cuticle. I washed my hands thoroughly, hoping to avoid possible infection.

There might be some special gear on the hands that can be used I don't know about, but for me, I like to just do things directly with my hands if nothing else is available that works.

End Results

Very satisfied with how this tree turned out. It was just such a pain to handle this much. Removing all the dead areas definitely makes this tree look much healthier. The branches are more visible now that the overlapping branches are shortened. Some of the branches had so many buds sticking out in the elbows and armpits of branches, and so I removed those to allow space for air and sunlight. Small buds growing in those confined areas would not have had enough space and sunlight to spread out anyway.

The long left branch has been a sticking point with me for many years. It used to be more full on the end of that branch, and now it only grows one or two healthy buds there each year. As long as it remains living, I like to leave it alone. If it dies off, I'll still have a nice full zone of branches completing the tree on the right side.

An interesting thing about the shape of this tree is that it appears as though the branch is climbing through the cliff rock, and growing into it. In truth, that branch is actually hovering high over it. In this way, the pot provides a nice backdrop for the tree to hint at the type of stony mountain landscape this tree enjoys.

These are the clippings removed from the tree. Doesn't look like much at all. Of course, many of these needles were removed one at a time.

This completes my work on this tree today. I hope you enjoyed this post. Even though I don't like touching the sharp needles on this tree, it taught me some painful lessons. ;)

Bonus Photo

In the USA, we recently had daylight savings. In the Spring, that means we all have to set our clocks ahead one hour. It is supposed to help correct the sunlight hours to better match our awake and sleeping hours.

On Sunday, I looked at the wall of my room and discovered an anomaly. The shadow of my pumpkin plant was being cast onto the wall due to the precise angle of the sun. In a few short moments the shadow would be gone.

Isn't that one of the coolest shadow art photos you've ever seen?

This photo wasn't staged or planned. I was just at the right place at the right time to notice that it happened, and now I can share it with all of my steemit friends.

Have an awesome week, everybody!