Juniper 07
Juniperus procumbens ‘Nana’ (Garden Juniper)

February 11, 2023

FEBRUARY 14, 2023. Well, this is embarrassing. I had a page and notes on this one for years, then I ignored the plant so long that it began to look worse and worse. Parts died, other parts grew too long, and the base actually rotted a little. Last summer I decided to pay more attention to it, pinched the foliage, wired it a little and decided I wouldn’t throw the thing away after all. That decision was made after I deleted the page about this one. Too late. It was gone. The whole thing had lost its support and was practically lying down on the surface and hanging over the rim of the pot. Later in the summer, or maybe in the fall, I decided to prop it up a little and liked it even more. I even started making some sketches using Sketchbook on my iPad. Jane McKenzie looked at me sketches and suggested I take it to the upcoming workshop with Jennifer Price.

So I took the little thing to Jennifer. She decided on a good planting angle and said the only thing to do was repot it in order to stabilize it., I bought a pot on the spot from John, and got to work. It turned out really well! As with the others (Juniper 10 and Juniper 11), I have to keep my hands off it for a year. Maybe two. Then I can see about making  the foliage look like it should.

HISTORY. Sara and Christie bought this plant for me as a Father’s Day gift at the 2016 ABS May Show. I kept it alive and took it to a workshop with Rodney Clemons the following March. With his guidance I cut the poor baby back a lot, probably removing far too much foliage. Then I told him I wanted to repot it. Big mistake. On top of that, I didn’t really like the way it looked. For the next few years I worried a little about not knowing how to handle the foliage, but I didn’t do much to help the tree stay healthy. Another big mistake. After years of neglect that turned out not to be benign, by 2022 it looked so bad I wanted to just throw it away.. You can see the plant in its early stages in the photos below. I might have trashed my notes, but kept the photos!