Kingsville Boxwood with a weird trunk

Droidicus

Attached are a few pictures of a Kingsville Boxwood (Buxus Microphylla 'Compacta') that I picked up from a bonsai nursery this past weekend. It has not been trained as of yet, and has been allowed to grow free up to this point. I will also mention that it came in a rather attractive hand made bonsai dish, but I cannot identify by who made it from the signature.

Other then a few insect problems (thanks for the help from the Pest forums), and a less then ideal trunk I really like this little tree. As you can see from the second picture, the trunk goes down and splits in two before going into the soil. As I see it this can approached in one of three ways:

1. Leave it as is and live with it. I would prefer not to do this as I think it would detract from what could otherwise be an attractive Bonsai
2. Cut off the smaller trunk. This would leave a dog leg in the trunk line, and a slight reverse taper at the point where they merge. Being a very slow growing tree this would take a significant amount of time to correct.
3. Make it a feature. Either a root over rock or exposed root style could be used to hide this flaw and might make a interesting presentation. One thing that attracts me to this idea is that I haven't seen a boxwood in this style, nor could I find a picture using Google search. That also may mean that this species wouldn't respond well to being made into this form, so some assistance here would help as well.

What would you prefer if this was your tree? Also any other comments about it would also be appreciated. My plan is to do some light cleanup pruning this weekend to get a better look at the structure of the tree, and then do the major styling this coming spring, as it is starting to get into fall around here right now.

Thanks in advance,
~Droid

Attached Images

	Boxwood.jpg (69.2 KB, 144 views)
	BoxTrunk.jpg (60.7 KB, 202 views)

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Turtlebo

My first thought would be to cut off the smaller trunk/root. It does not look, from the picture to have that much of a reverse taper problem. It could then be trained in a semicascade or windswept style.

Turtle

mike_p

Droidicus, when photographing a bonsai, you should remove any extraneous matter from the picture, In this case the tag on the base of the tree.

Mike

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hackberry

Perhaps you could gradually plant it deeper until the gap is no longer visible and therefore take advantage of the nice flared collar that would result.
This would bring your lowest branches too close to the ground, but I think you could remove those anyway because their opposite configuration is slightly distracting.
Anyone disagree?

Repotter

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zen

You might be interested in sseing what Robert Steven has done with this type of thing,..he often uses roots or trunks that have an open space like this to span a small ditch or stream bed, kinda like a natural bridge.

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rockm

Simply removing the left root would not only clarify the trunk, but would also introduce some movement in the remaining trunk. This is a design no brainer really. Lose the left hand trunk.

IdahoBonsai

Agreed and quite possibly it would take off as its own tree as a root cutting.

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TimZ8

A root autopsy is in order first. If you just chop off the root in question without looking be ready loose half of the tree. Wait until spring and make sure you see what you could loose. There may not be much root system there but don't just chop and hope...look first.

Tim