Esprit Bonsai International – August 2019

54 - EspritBonsaiInternational #101

In
Detail

A boxwood’s

development

This little Corbières boxwood tree

was the subject of an article on its

first styling in October 2017. It has

evolved a lot since then.

Author: François Jeker

When it was worked on in October 2017,

this boxwood showed by example how to build a

bonsai from a yamadori. It was the example used

for the “Getting Off to a Good Start” feature in

Esprit Bonsai International 92.

Work done in 2017

At the time, the first branch displayed seve-

ral weaknesses: some old secondary offshoots

were dead, and with them the corresponding sap

channels. The surface of the bark was damaged,

and underneath it the wood was dry and there-

fore very brittle. The work undertaken alleviated

these issues.

In 2018, the tree was watered twice daily and

fed once a fortnight. It was not pinched back in the

spring, but left instead to grow freely until Septem-

ber to “grow wood”, thus retaining the shapes it had

been given and stimulating its growth. Only shoots

from areas that already had the right volume of

foliage were trimmed back to two leaves.

In May 2019

The by-then-vigorous boxwood was repotted

in the spring in a glazed pot that was still slightly

too big.

At this point it was possible to move on to a

second phase of work: removing the bracing wire

and the protection on the first branch, wiring a new

branch that had grown to the right under the crown,

and pruning back the year’s growth.

But care was needed: pruning had to be selec-

tive, to improve the silhouette and counter the

apical growth.

The crown and the upper sides of the branches

needed to be trimmed back to two leaves, and the

ends of the branches to four or six leaves.

A small Corbières

boxwood tree,

in October 2017,

before initial work

on deadwood,

pruning and shaping.

What has become

of it since then?