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Even after 20+ years in bonsai I am still trying to learn patience. In the case of one chunky boxwood that I collected a couple of years ago, I am practicing that patience while I gradually work the tree back to a size appropriate for a future, finished tree.

If you’ve ever looked at large boxwood growing in someone’s landscaping, you may have seen how the branches can grow quite long and only have leaves out at the ends. That outer foliage can be so dense that the shaded inner branches may be completely leafless. This was the case with this old landscape plant, so it will take some time to build strong enough growth closer to the trunk.

As you can see in the photo above, the tree is already doing this sort of serious growing. The more-than-12-inch branch I am holding in my hand has grown from nothing in two years from a part of the tree that had all of the branches with foliage completely removed. The other parts of the tree could benefit from a response like this so I am doing some significant reduction of the growth on the longest, old branches.

Those long branches are offering many adventitious buds, as you can see above, and with some heavier pruning these will gain strength. When some of these gain enough length and vigor, I will be able to further reduce these branches.

The focus today, then, is removing significant foliage mass from the ends of these long branches including all the branches moving to the right of the main trunk in the image below.

The black dish tray on the right is full of clippings just removed from the long branches. Removing this stronger apical growth will push more energy into the many sprouts popping up along the branches.

You may also notice a bright, silvery area along one branch toward the middle of the image. This is an air layer, covered with aluminum foil, that was started last spring, and I think it’s time to remove it.

Here’s that same layer removed and potted. I hope you can see why I thought it might be worthwhile to use layering to work this plant back in size. There’s no use wasting material that has potential to be a good tree!

All I can do now is use some of that patience and leave it alone. I will fertilize strongly this season, and I may even start another air layer, but there is a good amount of time before a plant like this will be styled – a couple more years at least.

For now, I will have to satisfied with the opportunity to take a hard look at the trunk line and base to begin to consider the planting angle and front of this future bonsai. I am definitely planning to remove the straight, thick trunk rising vertically from the first split, easily visible in this next image. With that in mind, do you think I should go with this first front and trunk line as a leaning or semi-cascade style?

Or this second possible front that would change the angle upward to highlight the strong taper evident in the trunk line that wraps around to the left?

I’d love to hear your thought!

For a follow up on this air layer, see Follow up: Boxwood Air Layer.