Mr. John,

I have been working with a variety of trees [all broad-leafed] for quite a few years, training them in the 'live oak style', or even better, as Mr. Walter said the 'oak form'...Having spent a large part of my life in the Southern United States, I fully understand the way you feel about the wonderful 'live oaks' we have in abundance for inspiration...

I applaud you for attempting this form with a juniper...I think your efforts are progressing remarkably well and the tree is looking great...

Keep us updated, and now I have a new option when looking at junipers for possible bonsai candidates...

Regards
Behr

I also love this tree. It is quite a change from the "deadwood here, jin there, curve there" approach to junipers that has made coniferous bonsai so predictable and boring these days.

The form you've chosen for this tree isn't as "live oak" as you may think--at least in my opinion. It may be that it is a neglected form of natural juniper styling. The broad crowned juniper isn't all that rare. Alligator juniper, for instance, grows quite wide and spreads --as do other species of juniper in the SW U.S.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/...iperusd3740.jpg

The prevalence of form, not "style" is what you're after--at least that's how I've begun to look at it. I've pondered the "American" style of bonsai for quite a while. In the end, I don't think there really can be any particular national style. Trees adapt forms to different environments, not nationalities. The forms they assume are very similar when compared comparable region to comparable region, for the most part.

Pick up a copy of Charles Ceronio's "Bonsai Styles of the World." The styles he claims as "South African savannah" look very familiar to me as East Texas silhouettes...

(new member), I sat back to read many of the fine comments, and to view the site, to which I am very well pleased, like one member, I experienced a time when information and shops for bonsi enthusist were scarce, ( I think punch cards ring a bell) now with the internet information is enormous. This is my first comment to fellow artist.

The quest for inner-self, indeed even through the "art" of bonsai. Yes it started in the form of pun-sai, then latter to styles we know as bon-sai.
A meaning of the art as I learned, on achieving that harmony with nature, coupled with the desire to dominate it and to reproduce faithfully though on a different scale, what nature creates, and that meaning is "vision", what I see in the art forms I create, is it "japanese, american, though learned from accient masters, it is, and always has been my "own". Like all that we learn, we practice that which is taught, and like many who are called "master" at what they do, what makes them so, Vision, ( and the skills to go with it!). To go beyond that which is taught, I once trained a maple into what I called "The Spider", eight branches flowing over all sides, some said in a "Kergai" style, was it?, Was it "american", Russian style, I would like to think it was "my" style. Again not to say I did not learn what I create from attaining the "styles of tradition" and practicing them, but to then take it to the next level, to express not america or the japanese, but one of my self, a reflection of my own manipulation over nature. Charlie