Hello everyone. I just bought myself a blue rug juniper "wiltonii" to practice on as my first bonsai. I payed about $5 for it. I'm being cheap till I know more of what I'm doing. Now, Question 1: Do you let a bonsai get as big as you want it before you begin to work it or can you style it and let it get bigger. Right now my plant is smallish, but would do fo a smaller bonsai.

Question 2: I know people make bonsai out of blue rug juniper. I looked it up before I bought one, but this is the kind they had on sale at walmart. However, the plant is supposed to have a natural tendency to fall flat and grow that way, which is not what I want. How hard is it to train it to do otherwise.

Question 3: What do i need to know to care for this plant. It's just starting to get cold nights here and moderately warm days. Fall is kicking in. Should I do anything with it now. My thought is to trim off the top of the plant that is growing flat to prevent it from doing anymore of that. Then trim off the branches growing on the bottom third of the tree and maybe the one growing straight up or down. I know that's how you start to style. I'd leave it in it's flower pot to continue growing at least until spring.

Lastly, just tell me anything you think I should know about this plant or how I might style it. I choose what I thought was the best one. It had a desent looking taper to the trunk, it had a lot of foliage to work with so that I can choose where I want future branches, and while they all seemed to lean, this one has a straight trunk leaning at a 40-45 degree angle, whereas the rest of the trunks were pretty warped and twisted. Thanks for the help guys.