Emergency Boxwood Yardadori

[Brain Treez]

I recently found myself in a situation that was basically, "We're digging up this boxwood and you can have it if you get here before we toss it in the yard waste." One rushed purchase of a 5-gallon bucket of pumice and a plastic tub (with drainage holes) later, I had myself this boxwood. It was already dug up when I got there, and sadly they didn't seem to save many roots. I had to pot it in a rush because I was heading out of town for the day and evening.

As you can see, it revealed a pretty decent trunk after the soil was cleared off. It was planted pretty deep in the ground to begin with. Based on Google street images, my best guess is it's 20 years old. Unfortunately, the deep planting means a lot of those roots are not longer viable if I want to use the whole trunk, so they had to come off. I've got it in 100% pumice with a bark topper, sitting in the shade. I cut back a whole ton of it to compensate for the surely drastic root reduction forced upon it, but can I cut back even more? All the way to stumps? How long do I need to leave it in total shade outside before gradually getting it into some partial sun?

I planted it at a bit of an odd angle for starters to bury as many roots as possible and get it securely anchored to the side of the tub, while still being mindful of any design options.

Any other tips or recommendations?

 

[TrevorLarsen]

Looks like it’s for sure with the effort since boxwoods grow so slowly. I would make sure to keep it in the shade for a few weeks.

 

[bonsaiwood]

You have a good amount of roots on your boxwood based on the pictures . Just my two sense having collected boxwoods in the past:

1. Do not cut back anymore foliage. You just collected the tree and it needs time to re-grow new roots. The healthy leaves it has now are what's needed to grow those roots. For deciduous species sure, they can take more work all at once, broadleaf evergreens not so much.
2. Keep it mostly in the shade as mentioned by Trevor. It will still need some protection from afternoon sun after it recovers.
3. Don't worry about design options now. Take it SLOW. Your tree needs to be nursed back to health first. If you get too happy with pruning at this stage, it may decline. It is already in a weakened state as it was just collected.
4. Water it, then water it some more never allowing the substrate to completely dry out. It's in a shallow flat in pure pumice meaning water will drain quickly.
5. Double check your anchoring to make sure it does not move around in the flat.
6. Consider adding more soil to cover the root flare. Boxwoods can ground layer themselves much like deciduous trees and it looks like you have some feeders coming off the larger roots near the base. Make use of them.

Hoping it makes a full recovery. Boxwoods are very slow growing species so give it time and care.