JoeLewko
Green Thumb
Posts: 348
Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 3:29 pm

New Boxwood Style Ideas

Hey everyone,

so I was in Home Depot a while back, and as usual, they had $5 boxwoods in 1 Gal pots. Given my previous two unsuccessful ventures with boxwoods, and my inablity to pass up that offer, I looked around and found a tree with a good trunk and nebari, as well as what I thought to be plenty of styling options. However, I started pruning the tree, and soon realized I didnt have much of a direction for it. I'm pretty dissatisfied with how the initial pruning went, and I am not considering a trunk chop. (I would, however, have to wait until next year to do so). I'm just here looking for everyone's input/styling ideas. this is what I have so far:

[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/CIMG1862.jpg[/img]


this is the area I was thinking of doing the chop...
[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/CIMG1863.jpg[/img]

Note: the middle branch is actually two branches, one behind the other.

Thanks,

Joe

User avatar
bonsaiboy
Greener Thumb
Posts: 892
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 8:54 pm
Location: Earth

Perhapse an informal upright or broom style. Maybe you could trim the lower branches and make a Literati.

luigonz
Senior Member
Posts: 115
Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2010 4:50 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO (Zone 6)

I would do the chop right above the third branch,
this tree seems a bit flat in its present state.

perhaps you could encourage some branches to come in front and behind the
front you have chosen, I would wire as the new shoots are still green.

I don;t know how brittle Buxus spp are. I love buying starter cheap from big box stores.

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Re: "and I am not considering a trunk chop. "


Now considering? I usually never pay attention to anyone's typo's, but this one seems to change the meaning considerably...

JTred
Green Thumb
Posts: 380
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:05 am
Location: Elizabeth, PA

luigonz wrote:I would do the chop right above the third branch,
this tree seems a bit flat in its present state.

perhaps you could encourage some branches to come in front and behind the
front you have chosen, I would wire as the new shoots are still green.

I don;t know how brittle Buxus spp are. I love buying starter cheap from big box stores.
I second this. Can we see the plant from the backside maybe?

And buxus are pretty flexible. You can let new shoots go for a long time and still be able to put considerable bend in them.

JoeLewko
Green Thumb
Posts: 348
Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 3:29 pm

I actually chopped it earlier this year, and it's complicated to explain exactly how, so I'll try and get a pic up ASAP.

Joe

P.S. RainbowGarden...yeah that was a typo, sorry about that :oops:

josh1812@live.com
Senior Member
Posts: 144
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:12 pm
Location: Florida

That wiring is sloppy, be careful when bending because the coils are so far spread out that it will not support the branch at all.

JoeLewko
Green Thumb
Posts: 348
Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 3:29 pm

This is the tree after I did a chop earlier this spring...I only chopped one of the 'forks' because I am still nervous about trunk chops I haven't done that many of them (and the ones I have I haven't had much success with :( )

The tree seems to be healthy, and its constantly backbudding new shoots. The problem I have now is a direction for the tree (I know, I should have thought of that before the trunk chop). I mean, I have a general idea of what I want to do with it, but well I'll just ask, do you guys have styling ideas?

The black tape is there (sticky side out) because when I did the chop, the tree split a little at the fork, so I wanted it to grow back together. As far as I can tell, it seems to be doing that.

[img]https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/joelewko/CIMG2743.jpg[/img]

Joe

P.S. I just remembered someone requested a picture of the back of the tree, I'll get one of those up ASAP



Return to “Bonsai Photo Gallery”