Collecting these 2 Boxwoods next week, need advice

[evmibo]

Somehow I missed these on craigslist from 1 month ago. I called up anyways and they're still available. The person I spoke with said there are several base roots.

 

[Poink88]

Looks very promising.

You can chop these hard but leave some green at ends as you noted. They bounce back super fast.

Root ball is usually shallow and compact. You may encounter some runaway big roots but you can chop those off w/o any problems. They can make the collection harder though.

Good luck!!!

 

[evmibo]

Turns out these were Ilex vomitoria (Schillings Dwarf Holly). I almost knew immediately upon parking my car at the residence. Fine by me, these guys are hardy in my climate and they looked wonderful up close. Of course, they'll need some development, but the bases sold me almost instantly (especially on the larger one). I was a bit aggressive with them, bare rooted with somewhat limited smaller feeder roots. All that I've seen and read about these guys says they bounce back very well... We will see!

Here are pictures. Would like to hear what you guys think, good or bad. This was my first time actually collecting something somewhat large and I took care in making sure the trees were kept moist throughout the process, planted them asap when I got home.

Here are some pictures... I'll start with the larger one in progression...

 

[evmibo]

Here's the smaller one's progression. He's a bit ugly right now but with new buds it'll change

 

[evmibo]

Since I can only do 5 at a time, here's the remainder of the pictures.

1st is a close up of the larger tree.
2nd and 3rd are the smaller potted up.
4th is ground zero. the aftermath.
5th is the two trees together from a bad angle (sorry).

 

[Poink88]

Very nice. These can make killer bonsai in a short time. I had a feeling they were Ilex (based on growth pattern and trunk size) but kept my mouth shut. I did hope the ad was right though. Regardless, these are awesome and I hope they both survive. Ilex root fast but can also die fast. Seal the major cuts, otherwise, you risk some die back. That is just based on my experience.

Good luck!