Japanese Boxwood Help

[Frog]

Hi, so this is my first nursery find to make a bonsai. I was wondering if y’all could give your input on how to style?

I was thinking informal upright. I removed some foliage to get a better look at what I have to work with.

 

[Shibui]

Decide what you want your bonsai to look like then cut off all the bits that are not what you need.
There's only your hand for scale. Are you happy with the thickness of the trunk? How large do you want the bonsai to be? If the trunk needs to be thicker or size increased you need to grow the tree. Pruning and styling (and keeping it in a bonsai pot) will only slow that process to a crawl.

For an informal upright I usually work towards removing straight sections and improving taper. If you really want to go for bonsai now, cut at the red lines to remove straight sections and that will also improve taper of the trunk a little.

Informal upright usually has only a single trunk so also remove the competing leader - black line.

There's not much left after that but it should sprout all over the bare trunk and you can work with the resulting shoots to create branches and shape the tree.

 

[sorce]

Seems you still have some low buds.

Next summer dormancy I would take it back to in here.

It's a bit more proportionally sound.

Sorce

 

[Frog]

Decide what you want your bonsai to look like then cut off all the bits that are not what you need.
There's only your hand for scale. Are you happy with the thickness of the trunk? How large do you want the bonsai to be? If the trunk needs to be thicker or size increased you need to grow the tree. Pruning and styling (and keeping it in a bonsai pot) will only slow that process to a crawl.

For an informal upright I usually work towards removing straight sections and improving taper. If you really want to go for bonsai now, cut at the red lines to remove straight sections and that will also improve taper of the trunk a little.
View attachment 257098
Informal upright usually has only a single trunk so also remove the competing leader - black line.

There's not much left after that but it should sprout all over the bare trunk and you can work with the resulting shoots to create branches and shape the tree.

Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it.

 

[Frog]

Seems you still have some low buds.

Next summer dormancy I would take it back to in here.View attachment 257124

It's a bit more proportionally sound.

Sorce

So more of a broom style? Next summer dormancy? So it’s too late for this summer? If so, what summer month will be better?

 

[sorce]

So more of a broom style? Next summer dormancy? So it’s too late for this summer? If so, what summer month will be better?

Fall, or, post summer dormancy, growth should have started between a month and a couple weeks ago.
If you cut it now, it will try to grow back to a predetermined size and silhouette which it may not have time for. So winter dormancy will come late, which leads to less antifreeze in time for the big chill, which may lead to death of the newly grown low parts, which ImO, are necessary here.

If it has "subtrunks", informal broom.
It has subtrunks!

Nice grab. Next time cut into the low. Not the low off!

Sorce

 

[Frog]

Fall, or, post summer dormancy, growth should have started between a month and a couple weeks ago.
If you cut it now, it will try to grow back to a predetermined size and silhouette which it may not have time for. So winter dormancy will come late, which leads to less antifreeze in time for the big chill, which may lead to death of the newly grown low parts, which ImO, are necessary here.

If it has "subtrunks", informal broom.
It has subtrunks!

Nice grab. Next time cut into the low. Not the low off!

Sorce

Thanks! The only low I cut off was a couple small twigs...the rest were leaves coming straight outta the trunk, there were quite a few to be honest.

So, in your opinion an informal broom would be more suited to this one, versus other styles?

 

[Rid]

Don’t cut it back too hard, if you remove all leaves from a branch, there’s a good chance that new buds won’t break

Ridley

 

[sorce]

So, in your opinion an informal broom would be more suited to this one, versus other styles?

I Reckon, if to just utilize box for how it best grows. There are other "silly putty" species you can use to create anything.

Don’t cut it back too hard, if you remove all leaves from a branch, there’s a good chance that new buds won’t break

Looks like there are old buds where those leaves were. I'd be confident they'll branch out if cut next summer. In hopes they'll have already begun to grow in spring for extra safety.

Sorce

 

[Frog]

Decide what you want your bonsai to look like then cut off all the bits that are not what you need.

Your first sentence is what I’m not sure about, so that’s why I asked.

I’m fine with any style, just not sure what will work best for what I have. I should have asked, “if it were your tree”, what would you do?

Any and all input is greatly appreciated. Informal upright is what popped into my head first, but if there is something more appropriate/easier to obtain I’d like to go that route.

The size...eh I’m ok with it, mainly trying to get some practice on finding the “bonsai in the rough”.....

I did trim the root ball yesterday and fit it to the pot it’s in now, I might have to put it back into the nursery container to allow it to stretch it’s legs a bit after pruning. Thanks again for all and any info.

 

[Frog]

I Reckon, if to just utilize box for how it best grows. There are other "silly putty" species you can use to create anything.



Looks like there are old buds where those leaves were. I'd be confident they'll branch out if cut next summer. In hopes they'll have already begun to grow in spring for extra safety.

Sorce

Silly Putty Species? Please do tell....

 

[sorce]

Silly Putty Species? Please do tell....

Juniper. Elm. It's a @Leo in N E Illinois term far as I know.

I consider box to be quite the opposite, growing how it wants and to predetermined values.
Going against that is difficult, working with it is extremely easy and rewarding.

Sorce

 

[Frog]

Here are some more pictures for reference. There is some old budding still, but I did not completely remove the leaves I guess.

 

[sorce]

 

[River's Edge]

Hi, so this is my first nursery find to make a bonsai. I was wondering if y’all could give your input on how to style?

I was thinking informal upright. I removed some foliage to get a better look at what I have to work with.View attachment 257080View attachment 257079View attachment 257078

Two points to make.
1. Broom style suits the natural characteristics as stated above.
2. The trunk size seems small in relation to the leaf size. Next time you choose a boxwood pick a type that the leaf size is smaller than the trunk diameter for a believable Bonsai. There are several types that have smaller leaves that create better proportion for Bonsai.
3. With this one if it goes back in a grow box or ground it may increase girth faster, in that case keep the foliage and branching to increase size faster, than begin styling when the trunk size is suitable. A larger tree will balance the leaf size over time.

 

[Frog]

View attachment 257145

Buds?? Or?

 

[Frog]

Two points to make.
1. Broom style suits the natural characteristics as stated above.
2. The trunk size seems small in relation to the leaf size. Next time you choose a boxwood pick a type that the leaf size is smaller than the trunk diameter for a believable Bonsai. There are several types that have smaller leaves that create better proportion for Bonsai.
3. With this one if it goes back in a grow box or ground it may increase girth faster, in that case keep the foliage and branching to increase size faster, than begin styling when the trunk size is suitable. A larger tree will balance the leaf size over time.

Agreed, but it was cheap and I need the practice.

The leaves are around 1/2” long, so I think they should reduce with some training..

 

[sorce]

Sorry...error message.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Sorce

 

[Frog]

View attachment 257170
View attachment 257169

Sorce

Thanks again....and if I were to do this...I need to wait till spring....correct.