Al,
Great progression here. I prefer the tree without the lower branches/foliage. I think it shows the great trunk and deadwood much better without.
It was potted a year after collecting? Very impressive growth, it seems to have responded well. Have you found this to be typical? What/where was it grown in the year between collecting and potting?
Typical is a realitive term. My climate here is really desert like. Huge temps in the summer with little humidity and cold in winter not unlike a desert. What I don't have eher is the cool nights that desert climate will get. Especially the high desert like Mojave. When my daytime temp here starts to push over 106 the night time temp at midnight will still be nearly a hundred degrees. It may cool down to the low eighties by 6AM but will be well over that by 7AM.
So what this has to do with this juniper is this. When I dig one in January, it will stay dorment till possibly end of FEb. and then it will start to push. If all goes well, and it makes it past the die zone, it is well on it's way. I do not have to worry about it. It has made it and I can fertilize and water profusely. In the LA area they may not know if a tree is going to make it untill well into fall.
I grew this for a year in a 15 gallon black nursery container