Reworking a Boxwood

Hello all, Here is a video that I made as I worked on a boxwood. The main reason for working on this tree was to rid it of the ugly rock I had planted it on a number of years ago. I had some ideas for another compositions that I wanted to explore. The original inspiration for this tree was one of the very abstract boxwood penjings from China. Although I personally find many of the trees from China to be very naturalistic, the inspiration for this tree had very large flat and thin pads and was anything but tree like...nonetheless it drew my interest. Enjoy:)

In an early part of the repotting process you seem to be incorporating something that is coming over (at least on my screen) as white into the soil mix, yet it doesn't seem to be obvious at the end. May just be a light trick but if not, what was the substance?

I like it very much from the viewing angle of your chosen front. I also liked an image which occurred at approx 2mins 31 seconds into the video which essentially placed the current back as the viewing front. Videos are an improvement over photos but even then there is still a two-dimensional aspect, and this makes it difficult to tell if that would have been a viable option. Possibly the direction the branches and pads are going in might determine otherwise.

Good stuff as usual, John. Thanks for sharing.

Never seen someone work that fast before either!

Thanks Fiona, I think what you saw is just the result of poor lighting. I used my standard soil mix with this tree...turface, pine bark, and decomposed granite. I did use a thin layer of finely chopped sphagnum moss on the surface for increased water retention in my hot climate. I also added some moss (green) around the larger tree and will finish the surface when I collect some more.

Thanks again for your response.
John