fishguy253

Hey guys I have had this Boxwood for quiet some time now and I have just been letting it grow but I would like to work on it now, I am a litlle new to all this and need a little bit of direction on what to do w/this and If you might be able to help me identify this boxwood to. These are in a 360 degree or all 4 sides.

treebeard55

Interesting! I've never before seen a boxwood that gave such an impression of "upright."

The thing to keep in mind is that a bonsai is meant to be a living image of a tree. So step outside and look around for a while. What do your local trees look like? Is there one in particular with an image that gets your attention? Is that image one you might be able to capture with this boxwood?

__________________
Treebeard 55
Steve Moore
http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com

The most important bonsai tool is your brain.

fishguy253

yeah Im trying that out and I can not come up with anything, there is not much I can do with it I feel I am stumped.

treebeard55

First, your tree appears from the pictures to be pretty healthy. That's definitely a good thing.

Here are a couple of rough virts; these are design options that I think you could do. Each would take a couple of years, minimum. Even if neither one appeals to you, maybe they'll spark something in your own thinking.

Option 1 is what I would do, if it were mine.

• Cut it off at the red line. (You might be able to airlayer the upper part. Someone else would have to advise you on the workability of that: I've never tried to airlayer a boxwood.)
• Wire the highest remaining branch (green arrow) upward to continue the trunk line.
• A year later, plant the tree in the ground, and leave it there 2-5 years while it develops more branching and bulks up.
• Then lift it, pot it up again, and a year after that you're ready for some serious tree-styling!

You do have a bit of reverse taper at the base (blue arrow,) unless that's just the picture. That could be addressed in any one of several ways.

Option 2 would only take 2-3 years before you could show the tree, but in my opinion wouldn't give you as good a bonsai in the long run. But as I said, maybe it will prompt something in your own mind.

• Remove most of the lower branches, except the two I left in the virt.
• Pinch the tree's foliage back to make it more compact.

You would have a recognizable formal upright literati in fairly short order. The down side is that with a literati (aka bunjin,) the trunk is the focal point, and, let's face it, the trunk of this tree isn't terribly interesting all by itself.

Hope these help. Maybe (hint!) someone else will weigh in with a different perspective, on the tree, on my virts, or on both!

Attached Images

	fishguysbox option 1.jpg (94.3 KB, 10 views)
	fishguysbox option 2.jpg (86.8 KB, 8 views)

__________________
Treebeard 55
Steve Moore
http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com

The most important bonsai tool is your brain.

fishguy253

ok I see, that is not a reverse taper it was just the way the pic was taken.
Yeah I agree the trunk is nothing special, It sux I paid $70 for this tree and thought I had a good find it is pretty tall and big I just got suckered in to it becasue they said it was 15 years old. I am gonna do the trunk chop I just need to get the balls to do it. thx alot tree beard