fencerow save

A friend is removing an old fence on his property and showed me his progress. I was shocked to see a huge stump of a boxwood sticking out of the ground. He had cut everything off it in preparation for chainsawing it level with the ground and putting in the new fence. I promptly spent the next hour or so digging it out. Here is what I brought home. I have not thought much about what it might turn into, I just want to get it into the ground to regain it's foliage. What do you think?

Are you sure it is boxwood? The bark looks wrong to me.

At any rate, plant it in the ground or in a large pot/box and let it grow. When it gets leaves we can look at it again.

pretty sure it is a boxwood. He has many others on the property and while I didnt see the foliage he cut off, there still is a tiny bit still on the stump that can be seen in the pics, way down in the middle. It sure doesnt look like the old Kingsville I have, but I dont recall ever seeing a 50 year old boxwood trunk before, so I cant be positive.

Whether it's Boxwood or not, the trunk has some good potential... wait and see what the leaves look like, and then you will know for sure if it is a Boxwood or not.

By the way, is that your thumb in the Avatar? Were you raking a large rootball during repotting? The root-hook is a great tool.

I'll need to spend some time this weekend gazing at the stump to see what I might be able to do with it.
The thumb in my avatar is mine. I am in the process of building a streetrod out of a 1951 Willys Jeep panel truck. Evidently thumbs dont work well as spacers between engine blocks and the fenderwell...
I made my root hook from a very long spike (nail) that I trimmed the head off of and epoxied into an old wooden tool handle. Then I hammered the point into a hook shape. Works like a dream. After the episode with the engine block I realized that my digits were finite and tools could be replaced, so I try not to use them as root hooks any longer.

If you lived in the South, I would swear that you had collected a dwarf Yaupon, but I don't know if they grow that far North. Sure doesn't look like a Boxwood to me either. In any case good find!

I would tend to agree with the others here and say that it doesn't look like a Boxwood. The stems and leaves that remain look a bit like Olive to me, but who knows?

Well it definitely is NOT a boxwood as I supposed. Dwarf Yaupon looks like a good guess. Here are a few pics after a couple months in the ground. Looking as though it will pull through the ordeal of being uprooted. Sorry for the focus issue up close.

I'd say that Youpon holly would be quite likely right -- and DWARF Youpon is undoubtedly wrong. There's nothing dwarf about that stump.

However, Southeastern Virginia or northeastern NC is as far north as the Youpon Holly grows. It is more likely to be the Possumhaw holly, Ilex decidua, or if not deciduous, one of the winterberry hollies.

JimLewis wrote:I'd say that Youpon holly would be quite likely right -- and DWARF Youpon is undoubtedly wrong. There's nothing dwarf about that stump.

However, Southeastern Virginia or northeastern NC is as far north as the Youpon Holly grows. It is more likely to be the Possumhaw holly, Ilex decidua, or if not deciduous, one of the winterberry hollies.

I'd say it's Ilex crenata (japanese holly). Many cultivars exist, are in the nursery indrustry and generally avaliable. It's definately not Ilex decidua, and I'd venture to say not Ilex vomitoria. I'm sticking with I. crenata for the time being. Bark is right and leaf is right.

Randy

I would deffenatly go with native Yaupon and not a dwarf Yaupon. Either way they make great bonsai. If you like I Can post some shots of mine
Mitch

Randy_Davis wrote: I'd say it's Ilex crenata (japanese holly). Many cultivars exist, are in the nursery indrustry and generally avaliable. It's definately not Ilex decidua, and I'd venture to say not Ilex vomitoria. I'm sticking with I. crenata for the time being. Bark is right and leaf is right.

Randy

That's been my feeling since the very first picture, Randy.