Japanese Boxwood

Nerfgunn

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.

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Nerfgunn

And I havnt anchored it yet... geez. Could someone tell me the best sort of string or whatever that should be used. I realize its best to do it fron base holes with wire as you repot it. But Im fine with using an external anchor.

RedPine

Copper or aluminum wire is the most popular, basic kite string will work fine to.
A little bit of air tubing like from a fish tank will help protect bark if you choose to "guy wire" it. Cardboard bits, or rubber strips etc etc can also be used to gaurd the wires from digging into the tree.

Some pics of guy wiring..

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Nerfgunn

Thanks, Ill get some copper wire from the supply store tomorrow. How long should I leave it on? Im only putting it there to make sure it doesnt move around in its pot. Somewhere i thought I saw just to leave it through the growing season. Is that correct?

apisto

As one of the other posters mentioned you can tie it down with anything.

I use the cheap green plastic coated stuff you get for garden plants.
(I only use this for any sort of guy in a training tree.)

Serious branch placement and shaping is all done using aluminimum wire the Japanese stuff.

I do on occasion use copper wire as well but with a lot of trees to wire the ali stuff is cheaper.

If you are going to use copper get the proper annealed stuff or do it yourself. (heat it till it glows like a robins breast and leave to cool)

Oh and leave it on till the tree seems steady and able to support itself in the pot
Most likely sometime either half way through the year or early the next depending on climate.

Cheerz

BarbaraM

Hey Nurfgunn I know the very trees you mean. I posted two pictures of them in the gallery in December. There were many nicer trees then those I posted but I often had someone in the way and the pictures are poor. You can probably access the images by clicking on my profile and viwing my gallery. I was "informed" that they are not bonsai because they are not in a pot. True, unless the pot or some sort of root container is hidden under the grass and babytear. The ramification is so good on so many of the 200 or so trees. The horticulturists have got to be doing root work somehow. I have considered tracking down the answer.

Does anybody know anybody who would know?

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"What I like about bonsai is that it has a beginning but no end. A bud today becomes a branch tomorrow. It is like searching for the rainbw's end; the farther it is pursued, the farther away it is." John Naka

PatArizona

G'day Barbara...

Bonsai? Or not?

Most of us refer to all of our plants a bonsai. Speaking for myself...in talking about my bonsai, I don't bother to say wannabe bonsai, bonsai in training, partial trained bonsai, nearly finished bonsai, show ready bondai...in general conversation, I call them bonsai. I will get more specific if the need arises.

The word bonsai is not intended to mean a plant that has reached a defined level of devellopment. IMHO, you can call it a bonsai as soon as you start any element of training...trimming, wiring, potting...whatever...

Pat

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BONSAI isn't about surviving in a storm, rather, how to dance in the rain.
THE ONLY WAY: Always remember, and don't ever forget, that whatever you read here is not cast in concrete... the intent of any advice is to help. In no way should you feel that I’m saying that my way is the only way…heaven forbid! I've seen far too much of the "my way or the highway" attitude in bonsai as well as in other areas of life.

Nerfgunn

I was told by the 'tour guide' that they were miniaturized by secret techiniques. Any single one of those trees would far surpass anything I have been working on. Definitely something to aspire to.


And thanks apisto!