Ash juniper, J. ashei

waltseed

I have become interested in the ash juniper. "It has low branches and a twisted trunk. ..." according to one internet source. It is a tree or large shrub, to 10 meters, round topped, not conical.
More important, other than the many J. virginiana around, ash juniper is the nearest juniper that I could collect in the wild.
I have my share of J. virginiana yamadori and store-bought junipers. I like every one of them, but I want to spread out a little.
So do any of you who live near ash juniper territory use it as bonsai? It is native to southern MO, AR, eastern OK, northern TX and perhaps farther south. Basicly the Ozarks and maybe west and south a little.

This thread is a little like one I started about a week ago on alligator juniper, my favorite from pictures. Frankly, I am interested in collecting one or more of every juniper species. But I'd like to get a bonsai opinion before I go to too much trouble on a given species.

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Waltseed

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Vonsgardens

WaltSeed,
I have two Ashe Junipers that were collected- one by Vito Megna from Near Sna Antonio about 10 years ago and the other (recent thread under Show and tell) was collected by John Miller of the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 1975. Everyone who has experience with them says theya re very touchy. Howard Smith and John Miller both told me to never do root work and top work in the same year- it is a lethal combination. This is in contrast to Shimpaku even relatively old ones that we will style and repot in the same session.

I do know that they are hard to collect because they are typically found in very sticky, anoxic clays. So, you can get them, the best ones I have seen come from rough areas of texas.

Best of luck,
John

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"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

Thomas_J.

It's kind of rare to find them close to the DFW area. Most are collected farther south down around the Austin area. Being touchy is an understatement, I had one I worked on for a few years and was coming along quite nicely until I gave it a bit of shade because of the horrendous hot summer we were having year before last, and within a week I noticed it was going downhill and putting it backl in the sun did no good at all. Needless to say it was gone after that. I won't waste my time with another. I have seen some really nice ones though. Good luck with yours if you find any.

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Thomas J.

lagunamadre

I tried to collect Ashe junipers a few years ago, but I too have given up on them. I even collected one of 1/4" caliper, with the ENTIRE root system, and it didn't make it. The "Hollywood" variety seems to be the only juniper that does ok down here. Larry

redhawkbonsai

Having grown up in the North San Antonio / Hill Country area I will testify that the Ashe Juniper is very difficult to collect and to keep alive. I've known “Wild Bill” Cody for about 30+ years he is about the only 1 that I know of that has any luck collecting, keeping them healthy and growing for more than a few years.

There is a place, that is owned by a childhood buddy (accessible by boat) along the Guadalupe River west of Canyon Lake that the Ashe juniper, Bald Cypress and the Cedar Elm grow side by side (ya gotta love Texas). I would go out there and collect several of each for weeks every collecting season. I found that all the BC and Cedar Elms would survive, but maybe less than 5% of the Ashe Junipers would survive after the collection. The mortality rate after the 1st year’s growing season was very high too. I haven’t bothered to collect them for over 20 years.

Everybody south of the Texas “Hill Country” (non bonsai people alike) hates them with a passion due to the fact that every winter the “pollen” blows in with the winter storms and wreaks havoc on everybody’s allergies.

They do make very cool fence post and also great Bon-Fires! LOL


Happy hunting, redhawk

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Vonsgardens

ThomasJ,
John miller said he collected it down south by San Marcos or south (he was precise, my memory is not...). John

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"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

waltseed

I have concidered having someonhe collect some ash juniper twigs and graft them onto my local J. virginiana. I may still do that. But I want to try the real thing too.
I found a nursery in the Wichita Falls area that collects and sells wild ones, and escarpment live oak, too.
I'll have to ask him how he handles them.,
Thanks for the replies.

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Waltseed