Collected 3 Boxwood/Buxus hedge

I saw a Craigslist ad for free boxwood hedge to be removed (re-landscaping project). There are 30+ (15+ year old) bushes but someone beat me claiming them. After some begging , I eventually got permission to take a few and here they are. These are reduced about 75% and still very "bushy" because I am not yet sure how to style them and need to keep some foliage. The root ball are collected intact and almost filling the containers. I am just keeping some of the aerial roots but will be eventually removed. Last tree was planted a little deeper and base was buried.

What do you think?

Boxwood #1



Boxwood #2



Boxwood #3



As always, comments welcome.

Nice material, the Honkin' trunks are hard to find! just make sure to leave some foliage on each branch as you reduce them or they will die back, i.e.. wait for a bud to break lower down then cut back to it (looks like you knew that by the way you have trimmed carefully back when you collected them). Harry has a good in depth article about them here http://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Buxus%20Indepth.htm I will be trying the partial defoliation this year on my big Box.
-Jay

Yeah I did. Still had a few (5 or so) I had no choice but to cut w/o leaves and just hope for the best. A few, I left sticking out thinking of doing some micro-jin...or trim later.

Dario,

Very nice materials with great potentials. the first two would look perfect for an Acacia tree appeal.


regards,
jun

Those should be great fun to work with. I'm hoping to come across some similar boxwoods one of these days.

Don't worry about styling for at least a couple of years. Let them adapt to their new life in a pot and be sure they're healthy. Let them throw out as much new foliage as possible, and don't even try to pinch it back.

I like that first pair the best, and do not think I would try to separate the two trunks.

Nice finds.

Thanks guys.

If it is not obvious...the bottom third of these trees were buried in mulch and soil when I collected them and didn't see what I am getting until I thinned/pruned them down considerably. At that point, I am committed to take the tree out of respect to the homeowner.

I tried to reach in and clean around the first one before pruning but I encountered a small rattle snake (inside the mulch) so I did not bother to attempt that on the next ones.

JimLewis wrote:...and do not think I would try to separate the two trunks.

I find this funny since on another forum I was advised to separate these and get 5-6 trees (much later).

Thanks Jim.

Why waste a couple of years? Boxwood are tough as nails. You'll know by the end of the summer if they're healthy or not. If they were mine I'd water and fertilize like crazy this summer, and start choosing my seconday branches and doing initial styling in the fall. As you know here in 8b, boxwoods grow about 48 of the 52 weeks in a year.

drgonzo wrote:Nice material, the Honkin' trunks are hard to find!

Jay, I hope you are not just being nice since on another forum I was told only one is good enough (#1) and they didn't like most of it. Of course I think otherwise but it was a bit of a downer. Thanks!

Poink88 wrote:

drgonzo wrote:Nice material, the Honkin' trunks are hard to find!

Jay, I hope you are not just being nice since on another forum I was told only one is good enough (#1) and they didn't like most of it. Of course I think otherwise but it was a bit of a downer. Thanks!

Actually, Jay, they aren't that hard to find down here. I like them all, but the first is my favorite. Nice, natural old oak movement in them. Maybe those people have a very limited understanding of what a bonsai should look like.

Poink88 wrote:

drgonzo wrote:Nice material, the Honkin' trunks are hard to find!

Jay, I hope you are not just being nice since on another forum I was told only one is good enough (#1) and they didn't like most of it. Of course I think otherwise but it was a bit of a downer. Thanks!

That's the problem with forums sometimes. You'll get all kinds of advice some good some not so good and some downright bad.

There are lots of people who think if it's not a 500 year old twisted pine or juniper collected from the mountains, it's not worth working with. I wouldn't worry about it...

I think if you separate the first pair you will find you are left with a couple of long, lanky, no-nebari, piss-poor plants.

I know the forum you refer to, and . . .

Russell

I only managed to find the one I have now by patiently combing through a bunch of landscape nurseries over the course of 2 years. I'm always on the lookout for specimens; in the ground around, office parks, doctors offices, but I find up my way whoever "landscaped" these places chose mostly Barberry and Yew, Euonymous, the occasional big Juniper. It must be the cold up here, even though Box is fully hardy....at least up here in the land of Nor the biggies are rare....

-Jay

Poink88 wrote:

drgonzo wrote:Nice material, the Honkin' trunks are hard to find!

Jay, I hope you are not just being nice since on another forum I was told only one is good enough (#1) and they didn't like most of it. Of course I think otherwise but it was a bit of a downer. Thanks!

Poink, you needn't worry, I'm never nice without reason.

Wow! That's beautiful stock! I won't argue the point, when it comes down to it, it's about trunk, and if you got trunk you can always do something with it! I had to get a towel to catch my drool! Nice score!