Alternative Lifestyle, California Juniper
By Al Keppler

A good title will always stimulate a look see, I hope you stick around and finish the article, I’ll try not to disappoint. I am writing this article for two reasons.
1. Not everything in bonsai is, as it seems.
2. When making comments about species specific trees, or location specific, it pays to have a little experience in the species.

For the sake of this article I am speaking of the California Juniper. Without a doubt one of the most sought after junipers in the world, and a wonderful species for bonsai work. A little history. For the most part while many of the Western states have a juniper named for their respective states, i.e.. Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and California, the growing habits and physical characteristics are much the same. The needles are much the same, bark and trunk texture is alike, and the actual growth habits are mutual. There seems to be a small variance in the Desert Juniper of California and the Sierra Juniper of California. The Sierra tends to have a much more pronounced bluish cast to the foliage while the desert species is green. The Sierra is also much more prickly in its foliage, and tends to stay juvenile for longer periods of time while the Desert species will revert back to juvenile during the training phase, and will resort back to whipcord foliage in a year or two of light pinching.

Location, Location, Location

The California Juniper grows in very select regions of California. It grows with no apparent reason in one area and within a couple hundred yards, one will drive right out of the area. The three largest areas for finding the junipers are in a narrow belt of the coast range of foothills from Coalinga to Atascadero, the Palmdale/Lancaster area, and the north side of the Tehachapi Mountains in Mojave. Most of the current digging goes on in the Mountains of Mojave. The Santa Margarita Mountains, (part of the chain in Atascadero), and Lancaster yielded a few good trees in the seventies, but most of the good stock is exhausted.

Part of the reason for this article is to help clear up some confusion on the growing habits of this scarce juniper. Anyone spending a few seasons in the sun and fun of California digging these prize junipers will soon find out that these plants while showing signs of great age and sacrifice have not suffered too badly. These plants are quite adaptable and have adapted themselves to take up their cherished water thru its leaves. While the root systems on these plants can be quite large and deep, that is not the norm. These plants tend to have a very shallow root system and use this root system for anchorage more than anything else. The desert while quite devoid of water during the summer is quite wet in the morning with humidity and dew. Even in the heat of summer, the early morning at daybreak will show pearly drops on the needles of these plants. The needles are capable of taking up this water and make use of it during its growing season. The roots are quite capable of converting water to energy and will grow with great speed when it is plentiful, which helps when collected and placed in a pot.

A beautiful place teeming with life

The desert is not a sterile place. I do not spend a whole lot of time there during the summer months, but am frequently there during the winter and spring. If not collecting junipers, then looking for Suiseki in the desert. In spring, the desert is awash with every color imaginable. The mountains take on many colors as the sun rises and the ground is covered with a lush carpet of green and wildflowers abound everywhere. I am always at a loss at how many wildflowers grow in such a desolate place. Anyone that has a very nice driftwood juniper bonsai and thinks that it would not look natural with a nice flowering Shitakusa has never seen the California desert in spring. While summer brings on much more “brown” to the landscape, it is never the less full of botanical life.

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

California Junipers while covered in driftwood are not hanging on to dear life. They are mostly wind battered, and will show many signs of the constant battle with the wind. The wind will scour the dead wood white and the branches will yield to the centuries of constant tugging, but the foliage will continue to live and thrive. It is not uncommon to find a juniper nearly dead on all but about 10% of its original size, but the foliage on the living part will be vibrant and green and look as though it has been pinched for the last two decades. Part of the charm of this plant is the ability to achieve good foliage clouds on a plant with fairly coarse foliage. Some of these plants will reach sizes on par with a large bus or van. The age can be quite high and can be estimated at about 80 years per inch of growth. A trunk 4 inches across would be approx. 320 years old. I have seen junipers reaching the size of a small house and have a trunk nearly 2 feet across. Surly a Patriarch, and worthy of preservation.

The Hunt

Looking for junipers is easy. Finding junipers is easy. Finding a juniper with the characteristics acceptable for bonsai is hard. Ever wonder when hiking through a nice green pasture or field of trees, the small trees are never around. One can never find the small trees growing up that will be the trees for the next couple of centuries. So it is with these junipers. Most of the junipers growing on the sides of the hills are about the size of a Volkswagen. Finding a juniper small enough for potting, with good branching, nice taper in the trunk, and foliage to style is nearly impossible. It requires a keen eye, and good stamina for the 5 miles one will walk while searching out a tree. It’s also a good idea to have a third eye to keep a look out for rattlesnakes. A rattle snake bite out here could mean death due to the drive distance to a good hospital, and the lack of any friend willing to suck the venom out!

I started by working the bottom of this steep gorge. I figured I might find smaller plants near the bottom closer to a water source. I was right, and managed two plants from this gorge. I later found out that the more twisted stock comes from the upper sides of unprotected hills. I'll try that next year!

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The Discovery

Once a suitable plant is found, it requires removal from the ground to take it back home, after all that is why you came here in the first place. I start digging a trench around the plant at the canopies drip line. I start inching the shovel in and prune away large roots as I start to work my way under the plant. I like to dig completely under the plant and cut away any large roots under the plant with a saw or loppers. I resist the temptation to rock the plant or try prying it up with the shovel as this breaks roots and breaks up the root ball prematurely. Once the plant is free of the ground, I start to remove the field soil from the rooted areas. As the soil is removed I wrap the roots in wet sphagnum moss. I take a wrap with the packaging wrap, and secure the bundle as I work around the root ball. Once I have all the roots encased in moss and plastic, I wrap the entire root area with about 20 layers of shrink-wrap to preserve the entire root area in a damp moss covering. I suspect the plant could be kept this way for about a week, by watering thru the plastic if need be.

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The plant is pruned and unnecessary branches are removed. This helps with the recovery by not having as much green to transpire during its recovery period. The day comes to an end and everyone is tired and needs to be off the property by 1:00PM or risk being locked in. We all meet at the gate and eat lunch, make new friends, and check out what everybody has dug. The stories are passed around and each story gets bigger and bigger, just like a good fishing story. This is by far the best part of the day. While watching Ken Teh remove his juniper, I notice they are watching Doyle Saito across the canyon while he tries to unearth a monster. This tree must be at least 7 feet tall. This is the highest zoom setting on my camera, and he was about 250 yards away while digging this. I think the picture came out pretty good. The other photo shows Doyle carrying out the monster over his shoulder, Paul Bunyon Style, and addressing the roots at a later time. I did help him out with extra moss I had left over and we got the tree secure for his trip home. I ran into Maria Kapra and his charge for the day. This juniper has very unique twisting arm that will be very interesting during the styling phase. I hope Kapra keeps us posted with his future results on this juniper.

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Homeward Bound

Once I get home 3 hours later, I can take the freshly dug plants and plant them out in containers I have prepared for the plants in advance. The trees go into a mixture of lava, pumice, akadama and sand. The moss around the roots is also thrown into the pot along with the soil. The moss had been soaked in B-1 solution prior to the trip to the desert, I figure what the heck, and it can’t hurt. Once the trees are potted up they get a securing of wire around the pot and tied to some branches for security of a passer by or a stray dog. I wouldn’t want my rare juniper find to fall out of the bucket.

Many thanks go out to Harry Hirao for his enthusiasm and willingness to share this unique digging site with his many friends.

Final Thoughts

As I sit at my computer desk and pound out this essay. I can glance over to a wall calendar from the local bonsai nursery. I can see this wind battered juniper with is scoured trunk and mossy base. The chojubi quince, while not a desert species still takes me back to a spring day in the desert with the junipers, the grass and the flowers. This image brings a smile to a desert dwellers heart.

All The best, Al Keppler

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Great article Al. Keep us updated on these trees progress. I am also curious as to whether the large California Juniper that Doyle Saito collected will survive. It looks like it had a fair amount of roots removed.

Best wishes,
Charles

P.S.- I have that calander too . Mr. Saburo Kato gave everyone this calander along with a copy of last year's Taikan-ten book when we visited his nursery.

Hi Charles, Are you kidding? that is a massive root ball. Anything that dangles off the business end of one of these stumps is pure gold. I have seen these tree pulled out of the ground with one root the size of a piece of string and two inches long. I have also seen the same tree fill a box of pumice in two seasons. These are remarkable trees indeed.
Al

It seems I have underestimated the stregth of a California Juniper. Here in Florida, we treat our bald cypress and buttonwood in the same manner, and they always seem to do well. However, I did not realize that a Californa Juniper could be treated in this fashion. It makes me wish they would survive down in Southern Florida .

What seems to be the problem in Florida, surly not the heat or long growing season? Too much humidity, I would think that would be a bonus. Any ideas?

Al

I suspect that it is the humidity (along with the rain) which is simply more than the species can cope with. Even Rocky Mountain Junipers have trouble in the northeast because of the general wetness.