It all depends on how high you want your plant to be and how many spirals you want to create (and how diagonal you'd like the spirals to be). Personally I prefer a 6 foot tall plant with at least 4 spirals with the largest of the spirals at the bottom. So I start off with using a relatively young plant which is possibly 3- 4 feet tall (and possibly a good 2 feet or more in diameter)(the thicker the better) - get a tape and create 1 - 2 spirals starting from the bottom. I will wait until the plant grows a few more feet before continuing the next spiral and wait again for it to grow a few more feet before the next spiral. I would much rather purchase a larger plant to train, but it's cost prohibitive.

So I'd say at 18" long your plant is still too small.. However, if you prefer to do a miniaturized topiary and very narrow topiary, you can certainly start training an 18 inch plant.

Do you mean take the tape and wrap it around the juniper kind of like a circle but go up on each section? I know it is not easy to explain how to do this. Thanks for getting back with me on this.

I have the same question. What kind of tape. do you cut, around it? I have stared and stared at my junipers to try to figure this out.

Sorry for the delay. I didn't realize you had some questions posted. I've used anything that has some weight in it - even used ribbons, so long as it can be pliable and easy to manipulate. Heavy twine is also good to use.

I've started by coiling the tape from the bottom to the top. However if you have a good sized tree and you don't need anymore height, coiling top to bottom would be a good way to go. And yes, it's wrapped around with each segment going to the next level. Try it out and your eye will be the judge if it looks right. I start trimming from the top of the tape - inside and then outwards - always stopping and stepping back to see if the spirals are becoming discernible. I remove foliage from the trunks where I'd like to see the trunks exposed. If this is too difficult to comprehend. I suggest getting a stick, get some modelling clay and roll it out into a long thick coil. Take that coil and wrap it around the stick. - And you've produced a model of what you can do with your tree. I hope this makes sense. Sometimes being too up close to your project, you would lose track of what you are doing. Having a model will keep you on track.

Ianna