Two shohin Boxwoods

[Eric Group]

Two of my favorites on my benches and I never really liked Boxwoods until a friend gave me these a couple years ago! Each has since been re-potted. The first was moved from a plastic pot to this bonsai pot I got at Weigert's last year. the second was just put back into the same pot after a root trim..

Are these ready for a show? Perhaps as part of a Shohin group? (after a bit of a clean up of course... I could have done a little more pruning to remove some leaves that were out of the design if I was presenting them today...) I have never shown any trees before, but I figure I should start at some point, and I am trying to size up which trees are worthy of being put on display... Any comments in that regard- yes or no and why- would be helpful! thanks! I promise not to get all pissy and sensitive if you do not like my trees! I did very little to change their shape over the past two years- mostly just cared for them and re-potted them.. I am grateful to have them on my bench no matter what.

Back:
Second/smaller tree

 

[Jester217300]

I'm going to channel my inner Adair and say that they are potted too high and that I would like to see them potted level (no soil above the rim of the pot) before you show them.

Otherwise they are really nice trees. Is the first a Kingsville? They're both good but I like that one a lot more.

 

[johng]

Ok Eric...
The first one is nice but it needs a ton of thinning in my opinion. Perhaps a little more believable tree shape. I also find the container does not harmonize with the tree....way too masculine...oval or round, shallower and I prefer a glaze with boxwood.

Honestly the second tree just looks like an overgrown shrub....get in there, clean it out, and open it up. Spend an hour or more with just detail pruning.

I find small trees like these some of the most frustrating in terms of display....they are just too small to hold there own in a display...of course the alternative is to have enough small trees to do a box stand display...of course then you need a $500-1000 box stand and 5-7 $50-100 individual stands to do them any justice.

My advice is to work on something much larger for your first display. There is no hurry...keep chugging along and you will get there before you know it.

Did you get my recent email?

 

[Vin]

You know what's coming The first branch on the first one has to go bye-bye (IMO). Tilt the tree a little to the right and it will be good to go. After reading about many of the "sudden deaths" people experience with boxwoods, I keep mine in somewhat deeper pots like you've done. Mine seem very happy.

With a little cleanup and pruning the second one looks ready to go in my opinion. I like them both a lot!

 

[music~maker]

You know what's coming The first branch on the first one has to go bye-bye (IMO). Tilt the tree a little to the right and it will be good to go. After reading about many of the "sudden deaths" people experience with boxwoods, I keep mine in somewhat deeper pots like you've done. Mine seem very happy.

With a little cleanup and pruning the second one looks ready to go in my opinion. I like them both a lot!

That was my first thought as well on the first branch. I could almost even imagine the second branch going as well, but I'd think long and hard before doing that one. The first branch is a no-brainer. I actually assumed he was probably keeping it to try and thicken up the trunk a bit.

I'd probably chop the 1st branch, and then do the cleanup pruning to see what it looks like before making any other major decisions.

The second one is a bit dense to tell what needs to happen other than to maybe thin it out a bit. I find with boxwood, you need to let them get dense and bushy, but then it's tough to evaluate without going through it with a fine tooth comb.

I wouldn't throw either of these off my workbench. They're nice trees, and definitely have potential.

 

[Eric Group]

I'm going to channel my inner Adair and say that they are potted too high and that I would like to see them potted level (no soil above the rim of the pot) before you show them.

Otherwise they are really nice trees. Is the first a Kingsville? They're both good but I like that one a lot more.

Yep, I believe the first is a Kingsville. Thanks for your critique! I was cramming a larger root mass into it's first tiny Bonsai pot for the Kingsville, so I wanted to leave a little more meat on the bone I guess... you are probably right, they should both be potted lower. I have a bad habit of "mounding"... I like the way it looks personally, but then I do NOT like it when the soil washes out the damn pot! You'd think I woulda learned by now!

 

[Eric Group]

Ok Eric...
The first one is nice but it needs a ton of thinning in my opinion. Perhaps a little more believable tree shape. I also find the container does not harmonize with the tree....way too masculine...oval or round, shallower and I prefer a glaze with boxwood.

Honestly the second tree just looks like an overgrown shrub....get in there, clean it out, and open it up. Spend an hour or more with just detail pruning.

I find small trees like these some of the most frustrating in terms of display....they are just too small to hold there own in a display...of course the alternative is to have enough small trees to do a box stand display...of course then you need a $500-1000 box stand and 5-7 $50-100 individual stands to do them any justice.

My advice is to work on something much larger for your first display. There is no hurry...keep chugging along and you will get there before you know it.

Did you get my recent email?

I did not get it John... Been lax in checking my emails, but I will check it tonight!
Texts are a more reliable contact method for me... I almost missed a birthday party for an old friend this past weekend because the invite was sent by email!

Thanks for the critique... I agree, especially looking at them in the pics they both need to be thinned out a good bit. some of that looking completely shrubbed out is due to the 2-D image, in person the Kingsville especially has much better "visual Separation"... It is also maybe a little large for a shohin. What is the shohin max size again? It is a decent sized tree, like 8-9 inches above the pot... Still, certainly needs a bunch of cleaning out.

I have a question about that too. When You think the Boxwood... the "backbuds" on old wood on branches I plan to keep... Should I leave that interior growth, or.... Remove it? I guess it is subjective depending on the tree and the specific branch... just something I always kind of struggle with... I was generally removing most of it, but the Kingsville especially gets all "pom pom" looking...

 

[Eric Group]

You know what's coming The first branch on the first one has to go bye-bye (IMO). Tilt the tree a little to the right and it will be good to go. After reading about many of the "sudden deaths" people experience with boxwoods, I keep mine in somewhat deeper pots like you've done. Mine seem very happy.

With a little cleanup and pruning the second one looks ready to go in my opinion. I like them both a lot!

Uggh... Tell me about it on that first branch!! I have struggled with that decision... When in doubt, leave it on IMO, because you can't glue it back on!!

Prolly gonna do it this spring... Because I HAVE to try to root it! It is just something I DO... Especially with a desirable species like Kingsville...

 

[Eric Group]

Overall... I feel like pretty positive comments.. If I get a free second tonight, maybe I can get in and thin 'em out... give a dry run on prepping them a bit...

 

[sorce]

Perhaps a little more believable tree shape. I also find the container does not harmonize with the tree....way too masculine...oval or round, shallower and I prefer a glaze with boxwood.

The quoted is golden.

You ever see the Bonsai Art of Japan where they bring that maple branch up into the design?

I would try that first(first branch), too much negative space with it gone.IMO

By the time it sets into the design, (healing nothches?)
You got the skills to make that more believable tree shape!
2 years.? Money.

In the mean time, offer it out to fill someone else's 5 point display now!
I'm sure it would be welcome!

No harm in getting up close critiques either!

I like it!

Sorce

 

[music~maker]

Overall... I feel like pretty positive comments.. If I get a free second tonight, maybe I can get in and thin 'em out... give a dry run on prepping them a bit...

I've only been working with boxwood for 3-4 years now, but I always trim mine in spring/early summer, and that was based on the best advice/info I could find when I first got mine. It's always responded extremely well to that treatment. Given how dense & healthy yours are, they might take some thinning, but it seems like there could be more potential downside than upside to working them now. Horticulturally, I try to mostly leave things alone this time of year as they prepare for winter.

If you've worked them this time of year successfully and know for sure they'll be fine, feel free to ignore this comment (and tell me - always good to collect other people's experiences!).

 

[johng]

 

[Eric Group]

I've only been working with boxwood for 3-4 years now, but I always trim mine in spring/early summer, and that was based on the best advice/info I could find when I first got mine. It's always responded extremely well to that treatment. Given how dense & healthy yours are, they might take some thinning, but it seems like there could be more potential downside than upside to working them now. Horticulturally, I try to mostly leave things alone this time of year as they prepare for winter.

If you've worked them this time of year successfully and know for sure they'll be fine, feel free to ignore this comment (and tell me - always good to collect other people's experiences!).

Well honestly, I last pruned them in early summer, which is probably why they are so bushy right now. I was planning to leave them alone until Spring... But regarding timing, I asked this question about Boxwoods to Kathy Shaner at a workshop last year when we were working with a much larger one I have, and she said basically they are tough as nails! She made a good point that in the landscape people prune them mercilessly all times of the year and they do great... I think we over complicate stuff sometimes with Bonsai- sure some things change when a tree grows in a pot- might be a little more cold sensitive or need water a little more often than they do in the ground... But the nature of the species does NOT change! With that in mind, I feel confident they would be fine with a little thinning out now. I might not would do major cut back/ branch removal right now to stimulate back budding if that was my goal, but clipping it back a bit to show the pad separation oughta be fine, right?
I probably will not be able to get to it now anyways... My kids and wife are back home- Time to be "daddy", not a Bonsai "artist"!

 

[Eric Group]

Hmmm.. Thanks John!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I still haven't "made friends" with my boxwood. Your trees are inspiring me to try a little harder to get it right. I have the very cold hardy, larger growing species, I think it is Buxus semipervens. It has survive winter outdoors in the Chicago area for more than 5 years, survived in the shade, on the ground, only lightly mulched in through out -17 F back to back winters. Kathy Shaner is right, they are tough, resilient plants.

Mine is older, and just does not grow very fast, nor does it heal major branch chops. Haven't been able to get it back bud where I need back buds and new branches have stayed to puny to fill the spaces they are "supposed" to fill. Any growing tips for northerners?