lolokaiwahine
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Joined: Thu May 28, 2015 11:15 pm

Japanese Boxwood in Broom Style?

Hello everyone,
I am working on my second ever bonsai and I picked up this awesome Boxwood left for dead at the local nursery. I repotted it and I loved the look of the roots. My question is: Did I do it right? Do I have too many roots showing? And should I attempt a formal upright?

I haven't done any pruning, yet. Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated!
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garmy yo
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Location: Longmont, Colorado

I am curious as to what you have done since posting this..

tomc
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Location: SE-OH USA Zone 6-A

garmy yo wrote:I am curious as to what you have done since posting this..
He hasn't been back since May, so we may never know. He joined and never returned after his first visit.

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rainbowgardener
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as do many people. I have no idea, don't know if webmaster could come up with the numbers. But I would guess at least a third of the people who make an initial post here never come back after that.

tomc
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Location: SE-OH USA Zone 6-A

A bare-footed tree like this one, is not every bodies cup of tea. If it was mine I would lash the roots so that they stood more proud off the soil. And let the roots gently toughen up.

Box with terminal leaves left on, will in time recover from a big chop like this one got. There is not enough trunk to call this one a "broom". Box most often get pruned into some kind of oak-y vase shape.

If my magic Kreskin turban was back from the dry-cleaners, I might wish this fellow find themselves a local mentor. This could be a good tree with some help.

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Although the original poster is probably long gone, we can still learn from this.
I do agree with Tom that this is a starter plant. It was put in a ceramic pot. I really hate it when people chop the top of a tree and put it in a pot and call it a bonsai. With a starter plant, I would keep it in a larger container, not a bonsai pot yet to grow it out. Roots on bonsai are usually exposed gradually and some of the roots on that plant were debarking and may be dead. There isn't much top growth to style and I haven't worked with boxwood but the growths that are coming out I would have to thin and re direct. It is too vase shaped for me.

I prefer to look at a potential tree and let is speak to me, to tell me what it wants to be. I find it is easier to go with the nature of the tree than against it. I don't really buy a tree because it is cheap or even dig one up unless the tree itself has and interesting twist in the bark or in the shape that looks interesting enough to enhance. It actually takes a while to see an unpruned tree and a lot of study imagining what it could look like in the future. I have most started with starters which are usually very young plants because I am not really that good that I would start with a 40 year old specimen. Young plants are more supple and more forgiving. I did try to do a lightening strike on one of my older plants that got too tall so I had to do a topping. filing the tip was cumbersome but it stick out and does not look natural so I tried the lightening strike and I killed the tree. I did make cuttings of the part of the ficus I cut off so I did have a lot more starters to work with.
The local bonsai club meets at the garden on first Saturdays, but I am involved in so many other things that I don't have time to join that group. On that day I either work in the herb garden or do beehive inspections since I am in the bee hui.
My friend Roger is in the bonsai club and I can get some advice from him, but he is a beginner too. I could cheat and ask him to bring my plant to the meeting and have them work on it for me to do the hard shaping. Small branches I can do but larger branches requires a patient hand to bend the branches slowly and weigh them down to give them a chance to get into position. Fishing weights and bolts come in handy for that.



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