I had the itch today to get another tree. I set out intending to get another azalea from a local nursery but just couldnt find what I was looking for. Dismayed and yet still determined to find some good nursery stock, I fell upon a Japanese Boxwood with some bonsai potential. I wanted to make something similar to what I had seen last weekend when my fiance and I went to Disneyland. If you have ever been there then you should know what I am talking about. I forgot to take pictures at the time because I was a kid in a candystore pointing and oogling at these trees. A ride called Storybook Land takes you on a boatride through miniature disney-movie scenery. All the miniature scenery also has miniature trees... Bonsai!! Hundreds of em' all perfectly manicured and all absolutely beautiful. If you havn't seen it make sure to not miss it if you ever visit Disneyland.
Anyway, I chopped this boxwood pretty much down to the trunk. It was way overgrown. I hope to eventually have a very fine branch structure by cutting back to the bud closest to the most immediate larger branch. I chose to do everything at once with this tree because I did it with my first azalea and it came back really nicely. Also I heard its
nearly impossible to kill a boxwood, so im sure that it will come back nicely too.
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The original height of the tree was about twice as tall as this first picture:
a close up of the rootball after I trimmed it to about 1/3rd the size.
The tree in its new training pot. To fill in the rest of the pot, around the rootball, I used to original soil and added pumice, and vermiculite. And those are not my cats, they just hang around all the time because we have the nicest porch, with a comfy rug to boot..
This is the poor little guy after an intense pruning. I have the future leaders chosen (some of them are still buds). But really I'm just need to see how it fills out and take it from there. I will chose which side is the front when it fills out (shown in either this picture or the next) but I think I will chose this side.
Notice the large cut area on the inside of the right branch. I had to saw that one off because my cutters wouldnt fit there. I cleaned it up with an exacto knife. Though I didnt seal it, I dont think it will be necessary.
