Boxwood 06
Kingsville Dwarf Boxwood [Buxus microphylla var.compacta]
Informal Upright

MARCH 1, 2024. I put this one in the small light green pot that originally held a tree I bought from Bill Gebert years ago. What a memory. Anyway, I think the tree and pot fit together pretty well. The size is better than either the unglazed rectangle, the blue round (big mistake), or even the blue oval (too small), and the color seems to work well with the foliage.  At least it’s not the celadon shade I really don’t won’t to see ever. I talked with John last fall, so I have an idea of how to handle the branches that are growing so well. In spite of heavy fertilizing last year, I never got any growth from the left, where I needed something. I’ll have a branch growing from behind the trunk about where the stubs are now. That’ll have to do. Photo soon.

MARCH 18, 2023. I repotted this one in an unglazed rectangle last week, and in spite of the pot being a little oversized, I think it looks better here than in the light blue round. It had grown well, but I still don’t have the new growth popping out on the stubs I left last year. I’ll re-wound those cuts and fertilize heavily after the last freeze is over and done with. Probably in April.

October 7, 2022. I slip-potted this one yesterday into a small round 7″ pot I bought at the show in May just for this purpose. It’s big enough to let the tree grow more freely. Next spring I’lll go ahead and do a decent repot on it into something more appropriate — or maybe back into this round. The tree needs to grow and breathe at this point, and it couldn’t do that in the little oval. I have to say, however, that the roots I found circling the pot looked great. Strong growth, even if it wasn’t what I wanted.

Not only that, I’ve realized that this is no delicate little wispy thing that looks OK in the blue oval I put it in last spring. Sheesh. This tree needs something with substance! Maybe with a color that mirrors in a vague way the trunk. Not exactly the color, but a related one. Not the same texture, but something a little rugged.

August 6, 2022. I think I should have used a larger pot, because I haven’t gotten any of the new growth I was hoping for. On the other hand I’ve gotten good growth on the parts that were already there. I might try repotting it in about a month, when we’re through traveling and ready to be at home for an extended time.

March 9, 2022. I just repotted the little tree over the weekend. I hope I didn’t use too small a pot. I did take John’s suggestion: I took off even more growth, reduced the roots, and I’m hoping for a little new growth along the new cut along the “hump” of the trunk. With any luck at all, I’ll end up in five years or so with a cute little informal upright. This photo doesn’t really show accurate color; see below. There’s also an extra photo down below that shows what I hope the eventual tree will look like. Fingers crossed.

March 8, 2021. I’m tired of this stump, and to be truthful, I know I won’t live long enough for it to become a nice bonsai. So it’s going to Walking Tree Bonsai next week with a couple of others. If I’m completely wrong about it, and if no one buys it, I could take it back in a few years.

Or not.

UPDATE March 20, 2021. John Walker helped me change my mind. I’ll add a photo later today. I’ve trimmed off some of the tall growth, and I’m now going for a classic crazy informal upright only a few inches high with a fabulous base . Time will tell if that works out.

March 30, 2019. I couldn’t think of how to approach this one, other than to cut it back to a trunk and start over, like I did under Rodney’s direction with a tree I subsequently killed. And I wasn’t sure how much to cut this one if I actually did that, so off I went to Rodney’s workshop today with this as one of the three I wanted him to help me with. So here it is, not so much cut back and cleaned up and waiting for some new growth to pop. I cut the roots back a lot, and I straightened the trunk to a more upright position in the pot. The idea is to see if I get any growth popping on the silly looking branches; if I do, those will be shortened considerably. I’m fairly sure I’ll get a lot of other growth showing up on the main trunk to make other branches, so this will be good some time in the future. And the place for the monkey to sit is gone. 🙂

October 15, 2018. This charmingly ugly little beast is just the leftovers from the Kingsville I bought from Leo Wagner back in January or February. I separated the top part three weeks ago and this little shrimp is left all alone in an very oversized box. Time will tell if it will be worth keeping. If Rodney doesn’t come back for a workshop next March, I might just take both the pieces over to Atlanta for an hour or so consultation with him about both pieces.

In one of the photos below, maybe both I made today, you can see the stub where I cut the air layer off in September.

Photos