This buxus is in my collection since 2009, purchased by a friend a few years after collecting it from the wild.

As always, I wait at least a year before starting any work on it. A time necessary in my opinion to know and asses, firstly, the health of the plant and, secondly, to cultivate it according to the working necessities.

In April 2011 I organized at my laboratory the “Buxus day”: a day in which I invited my bonsai friends to work on 8 boxwood samples, which were part of my collection.

This is the tree:

A detail of his “tough” nebari.

The meeting was just an excuse to spend time with friends and the work done was essentially cleaning and selecting the ramification.

We immediately decided to move and lower the branches before they got bigger and then impossible to move. The boxwood is very hard and difficult folds. The branches must be positioned before they become too rigid. With the same diameter with other species, the range of folding of boxwood branches is considerably lower.

Since the day of collecting the tree has never been re-potted. The clay-based soil began not to drain any more.

In March 2013 I proceed to re-potting.

A detail of his “tough” Nebari.

With the help of a pulley, useful in these situations, I lift the boxwood, gently pulling it out of the pot.

With a wooden stick, all the clay is removed, completely freeing the roots from the old soil. After shortening the longer woody roots and reducing the root system, the boxwood is lowered into the new pot (about half of the previous one).

The soilmix used is almost completely composed of medium/large pumice

In October 2014 the boxwood

In the pot there is a large portion of dead wood on the left and a Nebari made up of many old dead roots .

As for the former, I think its size is too large and ultimately too heavy. The most important question is “does this piece of wood make the composition more precious”? …. the negative answer is obvious! Its removal makes the whole plant more harmonious and interesting.

…. the same goes for the roots!!

All you have to do is pick up the chainsaw and remove the excess wood!

The rightness of the decision was immediately evident.

However, an unexpected situation arose. From the cut I could see the spongy consistency of the inside of the trunk. A large portion of the wood was rotting and the compactness of the boxwood was replaced by a wood that crumbled easily. It is not the first time that it happens to me, especially with this species. The hardest and most compact wood remains on the outside while the inside of the wood gradually goes towards a state of rotting.

The only solution is its removal through cutters or chisels. The restoration must be complete by removing all the spongy fibers and leaving only the compact wood.

I also take advantage of this for the creation of some shari and a thinning of the vegetation.

In April 2015, thanks to a demonstration, I take the opportunity to work the plant.

After a few months the wire has already left a scar and it is necessary to remove it!

In 2016 I proceed to a new re-pot with the aim to place the trunks at the right angle. It will be enough to raise the roots, clean them and rotate the whole tree towards the front. In doing this a part of the old root system remains raised and to overcome this problem I insert a net that contains the extra soil, necessary to cover the roots.

In September 2017 the time has come for the third wiring.

Front / Back

Right side / Left side

Detail of the large trunk:

The movements of the main branches are assessed, so all the work is done with fine aluminum wire. With the diameter of mm.1,5 I do almost all the wiring. For thick branches I prefer to avoid the thick wire and I make extensive use of guy wire anchored to screws inserted in the trunk.

It’s pointless to give movement and excessive twisting to the branching. the rigid nature of the wood does not allow it.

The final result:

Front

Back

Right side / Left side

Details of the trunk and branching:

…..what about, in the next future, to have just one trunk?