Boxwood Styling and Branch Selection

[HENDO]

Hi All,

I acquired a fairly nice Boxwood at a nursery and have finished a very initial cleaning, taking 3 if the more leggy/interfering branches off and pruning the top some. The trunk is just under 2" diameter at the base. I'm leaning towards an "oak tree" style but open to feedback on this.

Unfortunately the two lowermost branches (red) are pointing more towards the back, but one nice thicker branch (blue, 3rd one up) at the front which seems to be bendable.

Looking for some input on what to do with the branches, mainly yellow ones on the right-hand side (selected front in the first picture). Most of the weight is on the left side, with a bunch of smaller branches on the right, all of them mostly "inline" with eachother.


Which branches on the right side would you remove?

Where would you go with the upper branches?

Thanks in advance!

 

[sorce]

Nice Flare!

At this point, I would just take everything back in to the last green and see what it offers you after regrowth.

If you cut things all the way off before tightening it up, and something dies on you, it's no longer an option.

This one is exciting. Worth going slow on.

Hell, you could probly think about it till after the Solstice and do a hack and pot.

Sorce

 

[Decoy Octopus]

There is a great article by Michael Hagedorn in International Bonsai 2003 #3 on Boxwoods and how to increase twiggyness. Might be worth checking out!

 

[HENDO]

Nice Flare!

At this point, I would just take everything back in to the last green and see what it offers you after regrowth.

If you cut things all the way off before tightening it up, and something dies on you, it's no longer an option.

This one is exciting. Worth going slow on.

Hell, you could probly think about it till after the Solstice and do a hack and pot.

Sorce

Thanks Sorce!

I'll slowly start cutting back and not remove anything major just yet unless it is an obvious choice.

Here it is after some more cleaning. It is a bit 2D from the side...

I suppose at this point I would be looking for some initial styling pointers and help making any easy removal decisions, where to put branches, where to take off, etc.

Thanks,

 

[sorce]

Due to the straight section that is one sided. I'd want to bring it down below that.

But I dig the line all the way up.
That would necessitate leaving some of those left branches to fill gap, and that looks phony, like the Joe Biden Ads on YouTube.

So I'd probly ditch that plan. Knowing I could find the same line in something with more suitable branches, and take it down to the closest green on all them bottom. "subtrunks".

This is a sweet box.

Sorce