Boxwood For Real.

[sorce]

Not wanting to get into an arguement because i have no proof in either direction as this will be my first growing season but didn't you say that those balls popped / melted in that mugo pot as they were up against the black pot wall and got super heated? I would argue that this may be a freak occurence in light of a lack of other evidence. By all means submit the theory but you cannot call something fact based off of one event.

I seem to have acquired more boxwood than anything else, I think I'm up to 8 now, so I'm following this thread eagerly and the information is great. I'm going to be experimenting with different methods on my own so I can compare results with yours.

This is Ok and no argument at all!

I don't leave anything to chance if at all possible.

For me...when there is this sign of any possibility of this happening....
Even one ball popped close to a new root tip is too much for me.

Even when we are growing out trees....
We are not growing them for the nursery trade.

Fish won't do this, and it works.

Using this for me, is like sending your kids skydiving with a chute that might not open, when you ha e a choice to use a professionally packed one.

Kind of a no brainer.

Hakuna Matata.

I dont have time for that worry.

Sorce

 

[John in Toledo]

[QUOTE="Sn0W, post: 551240, member: 22565"
I seem to have acquired more boxwood than anything else, I think I'm up to 8 now, so I'm following this thread eagerly and the information is great. I'm going to be experimenting with different methods on my own so I can compare results with yours.[/QUOTE]

Boxwood seem to be showing up here, too. I kinda like it. I'm just working to blend these observations into the "Start 'em right. Keep 'em alive. Work WITH the tree." part of my own learning to Bonsai Boxwood.

 

[rockm]

I've been reading through this post with some interest and bit of a smile. I have, for some reason, had pretty good luck with the species, including English, American, Korean, Japanese and the "tiny leaved" cultivars including Kingsville.

One thing I have seen over the years, is that most boxwood with the kind of substantial trunks that make great bonsai mostly DO NOT "want to become bonsai"--at least not in a single human lifetime. Boxwood are a bear to reduce drastically. Big trunk and limb reductions produce sharp, weird looking transitions between old and new growth that aren't easily or quickly disguised. I've seen people dig huge boxwood trunks just because, well, they're BIG. Not a reason to get one. I'd take a two inch trunk with lateral branching low down to an 8 inch diameter monster with
branching five feet up the trunk.

The boxwood I've worked were chosen carefully, at shows, nurseries and from landscapes. Bonsai-worthy boxwood trunks aren't common. Takes a while to find decent trees. Take a VERY VERY hard look at what you've acquired. Don't fool yourself that "I'll grow that top out" to complete the design. Most of the time, the "I'll grow it out" approach is frustrating and/or impossible.

 

[milehigh_7]

I picked up a few with really rough bark and pretty small leaves. I have no idea what kind they are. They were sold as 'Buxus microphylla' but the leaves are smaller than most of them I have seen. I just bought a "Kingsville" for which the real name is Buxus microphylla 'compacta' from @Martin Sweeney for reference. Once I get it I will post pics of both maybe one of you smart people can help me with ways to tell the difference between the varieties.

 

[rockm]

I picked up a few with really rough bark and pretty small leaves. I have no idea what kind they are. They were sold as 'Buxus microphylla' but the leaves are smaller than most of them I have seen. I just bought a "Kingsville" for which the real name is Buxus microphylla 'compacta' from @Martin Sweeney for reference. Once I get it I will post pics of both maybe one of you smart people can help me with ways to tell the difference between the varieties.

The "real" name for the "real" Kingsville boxwood cultivar is Buxus microphylla 'compacta'. That is the specific cultivar that came out of the Kingsville Maryland nursery that registered it. Buxus microphylla has also been the source of other sports of tiny leaved boxwood, so a lot of those get mixed is as "Kingsville".
http://torontobonsai.org/archive/Journal/Journal.2004/mar.2004/kingsville.boxwood.htm

 

[sorce]

Start 'em right.

This is key Too!

And exactly why I have this 2-3 year limit to get stuff to that "proper start".

Sorce

 

[Vin]

@sorce @rockm I had an opportunity to buy some Buxus microphylla 'Grace Hendrick Phillips' which I've never heard of. The leaves are indeed quite small. Does anyone have experience with this variety? I may still have access to some.

 

[rockm]

@sorce @rockm I had an opportunity to buy some Buxus microphylla 'Grace Hendrick Phillips' which I've never heard of. The leaves are indeed quite small. Does anyone have experience with this variety? I may still have access to some.

Don't know it. But it looks like a "mounder"
https://www.saundersbrothers.com/plant/Buxus-microphylla-Grace-Hendrick-Phillips

Might have some potential if there are substantial thicker drooping branches--which would be found on older plants.

 

[Vin]

Don't know it. But it looks like a "mounder"
https://www.saundersbrothers.com/plant/Buxus-microphylla-Grace-Hendrick-Phillips

Might have some potential if there are substantial thicker drooping branches--which would be found on older plants.

Notice the "Slow growth rate; 0.75"-1.5" per year". These were smallish 1/2" trunks. I'm too damn old to see them ever develop into something decent. Pass...

 

[sorce]

Take a VERY VERY hard look at what you've acquired. Don't fool yourself that "I'll grow that top out" to complete the design

I couldn't agree with this more...

For me. ....

Once this species "frozen" its froze!
By that "slow" definition....
By all means it is slow!

Finding that piece that you can take directly back to a "safe proper start"..ie, good proportionally tapered branches and healthy branchlets.
Very difficult.

To counter the difficulty, foreshortening, evergreen "hiding", its great ability to be carved nice to taper, small leaves...works!

At which point Branching can be built quick...

But this is definitely not a "grow out" candidate....
In that by the time anything is grown out, you'll have passed up 30 better starts.

But....

Sorce

 

[John in Toledo]

I couldn't agree with this more...

For me. ....

Once this species "frozen" its froze!
By that "slow" definition....
By all means it is slow!

Finding that piece that you can take directly back to a "safe proper start"..ie, good proportionally tapered branches and healthy branchlets.
Very difficult.

To counter the difficulty, foreshortening, evergreen "hiding", its great ability to be carved nice to taper, small leaves...works!

At which point Branching can be built quick...

But this is definitely not a "grow out" candidate....
In that by the time anything is grown out, you'll have passed up 30 better starts.

But....

Sorce

I couldn't agree with this more...

For me. ....

Once this species "frozen" its froze!
By that "slow" definition....
By all means it is slow!

Finding that piece that you can take directly back to a "safe proper start"..ie, good proportionally tapered branches and healthy branchlets.
Very difficult.

Sorce

Interestingly, this is precisely the tree we were given at the beginner class my wife and I recently took together. The general advice was "Imagine the tree not getting much bigger at all. Try to see a smaller finished tree now, rather than to project a much larger finished tree." So, this one will stay at around 5 or 6 inches tall, I think. Very compact. Everything is very close together.

 

[milehigh_7]

So here are some of the little boxwoods that I was talking about. The leaves are not all tiny and some of the ones that have been hanging around since last year are as big as 2cm. Most, as you will see, are quite a bit smaller. Seriously though after cleaning them up a bit and looking at them what I noticed was the bark. Is this normal for the little ones?

 

[milehigh_7]

Some more:

 

[davetree]

So here are some of the little boxwoods that I was talking about. The leaves are not all tiny and some of the ones that have been hanging around since last year are as big as 2cm. Most, as you will see, are quite a bit smaller. Seriously though after cleaning them up a bit and looking at them what I noticed was the bark. Is this normal for the little ones?

View attachment 187570View attachment 187571View attachment 187572View attachment 187573View attachment 187574View attachment 187575View attachment 187576View attachment 187577View attachment 187578

Harland boxwood has rough bark like this.

 

[davetree]

I have not been able to identify this box variety. It was sold as Saunders Dwarf and I have seen it advertised elsewhere as such. I contacted Saunders Nursery and was told by Robert Saunders that he doesn’t know either, he has seen them, but they didn’t originate at his nursery !!!

 

[Vin]

Harland boxwood has rough bark like this.

But the leaves are much more slender. I don't believe they are Harlandii.

 

[rockm]

I have not been able to identify this box variety. It was sold as Saunders Dwarf and I have seen it advertised elsewhere as such. I contacted Saunders Nursery and was told by Robert Saunders that he doesn’t know either, he has seen them, but they didn’t originate at his nursery !!!

View attachment 187685

From the leaves in the first pics (and the bark) could be "Koreana" microphylla cultivar. A lot of microphylla cultivars, including Kingsville, have rough bark.

 

[davetree]

From the leaves in the first pics (and the bark) could be "Koreana" microphylla cultivar. A lot of microphylla cultivars, including Kingsville, have rough bark.

Follow up from Robert Saunders - he states he would guess “Kingsville Nana” but he can’t be sure.

 

[davetree]

But the leaves are much more slender. I don't believe they are Harlandii.

You’re right.

 

[milehigh_7]

@rockm Okay I read that article about Kingsville and I have made contact with the guy who wrote it. Apparently, he is the International Registration Authority for Buxus. I am going to try to open a dialogue with him so I can learn some stuff. I'm pretty excited as I love the nomenclature part.