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25-Mar-2008
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#1 |
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Greybeard
 
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California and it's junipers
There seem to be some misconceptions about the elusive junipers of California. The two endemic species of juniper from California are Juniperus Californicus, identified in 1854 by Carr.(Carriere), and Juniperus Occidentilis better known as Western Juniper or Sierra juniper. The California juniper has much greener leaves than the Sierra which has more blueish leaves.
Both have rather prickly needles and both can have juvinile and adult foliage. The care for each is nearly the same with the Sierra needing a little cooler invironment than the California from its desert locale. Both take to pot culture and both respond well to fertilizing. This is a big plus because through fertilization we can achieve the canopies in a much faster time period. Both species must be collected from the mountains. Neither are available much as nursery material in a commercial sense. The range of these two junipers is vast in California with nearly every county in California containing one or the other or both. Here in Fresno county we have both to choose from. It is much easier to obtain better specimens of the desert species due to many factors, most of which is accessability. The California juniper is mostly taken from a private ranch in the Mojave desert near Tahachipi. The Mojave desert is the 20th largest desert in the world and covers 4 states. California, Neveda, Arizona and the southern tip of Utah. Hybridization between the species is a naturaly occuring event and junipers taken from borders of Utah and Arizona show marked differences between pure species. The range of the California juniper in California covers nearly 35,000 square miles. The range of the Sierra juniper is smaller and isolated to areas in which it survives probably around 10,000 square miles. In Fresno county it is very sparse while covering huge tracts in Mono county. Kathy Shaner takes classes to Mono pool each year to dig Sierra juniper. The map below shows the range of theCalifornia juniper in green with the Sierra juniper in blue. The red dot represents the place in which I have collected the juniper.
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25-Mar-2008
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#2 |
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Greybeard
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Neither species is in danger of having its habitat threatened and neither is on any endangered list. Both species cover huge tracts of protected land and are not accessable by permit so there is absolutely no danger of extinction.
While I can't speak for the propagation methods of the Sierra juniper, but I can relate many facts about the California juniper. Not unlike many large redwoods and sequoia, tragady is looked at as an opportunity. A Redwood devasted by fire can reproduce as many as 200 small trees. Many of these will encircle the burned out tree and form a root connected huge tree in the very spot it burned. The heat of the fire is needed for the cones to pop open and scatter the seeds. The ash from the fire completes the cycle provideing a nutrient rich grow bed for the new trees to grow. So to the California juniper can renew itself. Due to the miniscule food supply in the desert, juniper fruit containing sees do not last long. Birds and foraging animals will consume before they are even ripe. While walking the many miles of desert in search of a charge to dig up, I am striken by the total lack of small junipers. There none. baby junipers by and large do not exist in the desert. How do they go on? They ground layer! Huge junipers as large as a house will have their branches bend to the ground due to wind and enormous weight. These branches become covered by windblown sand and layer themselves in as little a a year or two. Many of the prize speciman junipers taken from the dig site have been actual layers rather than single trunked specimans so hard to find. The map below shows the area in which I have personaly dug junipers out of the town of Mojave. The red square represents about 30 square miles of BLM land that we have permission to dig on. The red "x"'s are places I have dug trees either for myself or for Harry Hirao. The next picture shows the same area taken from about 23 miles up. The small tract of land is not much larger than the whole town of Mojave. Very small indeed. The third picture shows the United States from an altitude of about 2600 miles. The place we dig trees would be about 1 tenth the size of the period above the "J" in Mojave.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. Last edited by bonsaial1 : 25-Mar-2008 at 03:18 AM. |
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25-Mar-2008
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#3 |
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Greybeard
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The growth habit of the California juniper is not very good for making bonsai. They growe much like an agave with a central core of maybe ten trunks emerging from a central point at ground level and splaying upward in a sort of 360 degree fan. Not very good for bonsai. A person can walk all day and never find anything to dig worthy of a speciman bonsai.
A misconception of the digging of junipers is that one can just drive out there dig up four or five plants and come home with future masterpieces. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can't tell you how many people I have taken to dig that will never go back again. It's just to much work for what you get, which is sometimes nothing. For the most part tracts of land containing junipers that are being taken over for housing developments is not that big of a deal as far as bonsai goes. The junipers in the valleys and the flat land that are good for housing do not have the correct character for bonsai. They mostly grow like the agave there. It is not untill you scour the sides of the windblown hillsides that you find the twisty gnarly trunks good for driftwood bonsai. It is these hillsides that are not wanted for housing tracts. The area in wich there is permission to dig is not juniper rich by any means. There are areas adjacent to where we dig that would be very good, but we do not have permission and access is sketcy at best with decomposed granite outcroppings just waiting to take your life. Compare the two photos below. We dig where the red box is, but just a scant ten miles to the south the density of green globs, (junipers) is more than double.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. Last edited by bonsaial1 : 25-Mar-2008 at 03:32 AM. |
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25-Mar-2008
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#4 |
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Greybeard
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Another misconception about these plants is that they are fragile. While this is true immediately after digging, with reasonable aftercare they grow like weeds. It is not unusual to take a juniper as nearly a cutting and plant in a three cubic foot growbox and fill it with roots in the first season. Foliage is just as tenacious. While to get compact beautiful foliage it take diligence but it does grow fast.
These photos show some of the surrounding areas in which we dig. Some of the plants are as large as a house. Some are small. All are hard to dig. The tree dug by Mel Ikeda near the white truck shows a perfect example of a layered branch removed from the earth. This is not a stand alone plant but a layer grown by Mother Nature and removed from the outer rim of the drip line of the canopy. The Paul Bunyun guy with the tree over his back has dug a stand alone tree. It is very unusual to find a tree with that much trunk as a single trunk. They just don't grow that way and this is a prize indeed.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. Last edited by bonsaial1 : 25-Mar-2008 at 03:33 AM. |
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25-Mar-2008
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#5 |
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Greybeard
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Sierra Junipers.
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. |
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25-Mar-2008
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#6 |
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Greybeard
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California Junipers
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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title. |
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25-Mar-2008
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#7 |
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Bonsai Master, in my mind
Join Date: Feb-2005
Location: Back Home in Northern California
Country: USA
Posts: 1,635
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Al terrific!
Great write up Al. Thank you very much! Pat
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BONSAI isn't about surviving in a storm, rather, how to dance in the rain. THE ONLY WAY: Always remember, and don't ever forget, that whatever you read here is not cast in concrete... the intent of any advice is to help. In no way should you feel that I’m saying that my way is the only way…heaven forbid! I've seen far too much of the "my way or the highway" attitude in bonsai as well as in other areas of life. Pat Patterson...Bonsai in the Greater Bay Area, Northern California
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25-Mar-2008
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#8 |
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bend me twist me
 
Join Date: Jul-2006
Location: melbourne
Country: australia
Posts: 1,769
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great info al thanks ps, now the juni police can rest assured.
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Antonio . . . ------------------------------------ |
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25-Mar-2008
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#9 |
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Not to be taken seriously
Join Date: Nov-2007
Location: Adelaide
Country: South Australia
Posts: 452
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Now come over here to South Aus and do that on our olives....
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"All your pinus is belong to us!" Shrunken heads for all occasions. Collect them, swap them, give them to your witch doctor friend. |
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25-Mar-2008
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#10 |
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Perpetual Learner
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Thank you Al very informativeI do like those Pictures puts a differant light on collecting.
Again thank you. Pup
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PUP Advanced begginner Heatzone USA9/10 Aus 3/4 |
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