J for Juniper

I’m sure many of you know the Juniper bonsai tree. Made famous by the Karate Kid movies, there are just less than 70 species on our planet. While the common Garden Juniper is certainly in abundance as a bonsai, there are plenty of others for you to collect. The species have different colors in the needles and cones, and you’ll want to add as many to your collection as possible.

While the genus is found in many countries, you’ll be interested to know that it’s also located in the Arctic. Many of the species are hardened to frost, but perhaps not as a bonsai. These small trees in pots weren’t designed to handle incredibly cold temperatures. Of course, you could always travel to the Arctic and get a cutting from one of the trees in the snow.

There was no chance in hell I wasn’t going to have Juniper on this list of A to Z bonsais. I’ve struggled to grow them from cuttings, to be honest, but I believe I took them at the wrong time. There are so many bonsai trees that start with J, and many of them were sacrificed just so I can have this challenging genus on my list. They say it’s a good tree for beginners, and yet, it’s the one I struggle with the most.