Who said you need to go to the mountains?...now what is it?

washout03

Ok, I spent this past weekend at my grandparents' 30 acre piece of forest in north-central Ohio. I decided this would be a good opportunity to take a hike and see what i could find. I came across a few small what i believe to be junipers, but kept going, hoping for something better. After about a half hour, i saw a HUGE bush-like tree. When i got to it, it turned out to be the perfect tree to collect. Needless to say i dug it up, and it is now residing in my back yard.

And now to my question. Are there any native junipers in north central ohio? This one has very small needles, but they are relatively well spaced, not scale-like. I will have pictures up either tomorrow or the day after.

Thanks a lot,
Tom

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pootsie

Native junipers?
Not that I know of ... but they may have grown wild from introduced species
Here's a link to the Ohio DNR, may be of help :
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/forestry.../treesindex.htm

pootsie

washout03

Thanks pootsie, I'm 95% sure its an easter red cedar.

SierraBonsai

Most likely Juniperus Virginiana, but some juniperus communis have been found. I'll wait until you post pictures. Thanks for sharing collecting story.

Will_Heath

Juniperus Virginiana tend to have uninteresting trunks in the wild, straight and boring but beautiful reddish bark and tight small needles. These grow like weeds here in Michiagan, sometimes you can find some nice ones in hay fields where the farmer has mowed them over and over again. They work well for forest and back bud remarkably well.

Will

washout03

this one does have a pretty straight trunk, but its saving grace is it used to be 6 feet tall until some serious deer abuse left it about 1 foot tall with a 5 foot deadwood spike and a little natural shari. The trunks about 3 inches thick at the base and has some flare. I broke the deadwood off at about the 3 foot mark. Nasty rainy day today. Ill post pics tomorrow. Thanks for all the help so far.

Tom

SierraBonsai

Tom,

Hunt around limestone escarpments and bluffs(with permission),that faces west. This is where excellent eastern red cedar (juniperus virginiana) material can be found.
I usually find nice twisted trunk material with natural jin/shari and very compact tight mature foliage in such areas. Some I have collected and checked were located in 3" of soil, and a mass of feeders roots with one long taproot that is easily severed. Other cedars found in ditches (most are upright) can make excellent forest material. After collection in spring you can cut branches back to 1/2" from trunk and start over. The reason for this, is to retrain encouraging lateral growth, not vertical, which is what juniperus virginiana is known for. Oh, and you can also control winter needle colors of purple, pink and red, depending on the pH of your soil.
Just a few tidbits,I hope this helps Tom
-Ron

washout03

well theyre not great, but i took some pics. The third is a close up of part of the deadwood. If anyone has styling suggestions, i'd love to hear them.
thanks,
Tom

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Carl_Bergstrom

Hi Tom,

I don't think that you can expect to receive serious styling suggestions unless you post a photograph that shows the trunkline and primary branching.

-Carl

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