I have just been given a Bonsai as a present, but it has no nametag or instructions.
Can anyone identify what type it is and tell me whether it would prefer a sunny windowsill or a cool north-facing one.
Any other advice on its preferences would be appreciated.
I attach a photo of its foliage.
Regards,
Peter.
.... hard to tell from the picture - probably Buxus sempervirens 'variegata' (variegated English boxwood). I over-winter my boxwoods in an unheated garage. Yours won't be happy indoors.
Al
Thanks Al,
Having looked up your suggestion on the internet, I am sure you are right.
I will heed your advice on where to keep it over our coming winter and see how it goes.
Regards,
Peter.
With tongue only partially in cheek, I'd say one of the very the hardest things for budding bonsai artists to deal with is separation anxiety. Most new to the art feel like they need to constantly nurture their plants, and relinquishing them to the primary care of Mother Nature for winter's duration seems something tantamount to abandoning their firstborn at first frost to the care of wolves. Temperate plants, like box, need a cold rest in order to do well in the subsequent growth cycle, and in many if not most cases to survive. While it is possible to maintain some temperate plants indoors under controlled conditions, a dry room with poor light can generally be counted on to set the plant up for a weak spring performance with little chance of ever catching its counterparts (in growth and o/a vitality) that were allowed to do what temperate plants do in the winter, which is to go dormant & then pass into a restful state of quiescent torpor until spring temps send the signal that awakens them, batteries fully charged and preconditioned for a running start.
Patience is a part of bonsai. You either come to bonsai with it or soon learn it. There are no accomplished bonsai artists not possessed of a large measure of patience. If you find yourself overly concerned about the well being of your woody charges, you need something, or a few somethings tropical you can keep indoors and fuss over just enough to make the angst over the resting box tolerable. So sayeth one who has been through it ....
Al
English ????? box is as tough as old boots, this plant survives the coldest winter temp, the warmest summer temps , they will not survive indoors as they are hardy shrubs, I will be more than surprised if your plant is a bonsai, it is not normally used for this purpose due to the fact it is very bushy and slow growing, the idea of Bonsai is to grow a large shrub or tree and constantly trim the roots, wire the branches into shape /form and the art is to make the miniature tree replicate a tree growing to the side like they do on a windy hill etc, Bonsai are NOT indoor plants either because of the type of specimen that are chosen to miniaturize.
The Box plant looks to me like it is normal, I grow box as low hedges here in UK and what is great about them is, they get trimmed 2 times a year, September and March, other hedges need trimmed weekly or every 2 weeks, you can trim these small shrubs into ball shapes, squares, pyramids, animal shapes like birds, cats etc, the best way to keep it in trim / shape is to just use secateur's to nip off about half to one inch, keep well watered and feed once a year each spring. if you want to grow this as a Bonsai, then got to the library and get a book on Bonsai for beginners, and it will tell you the kind of containers required and soil. good luck. WeeNel.
Boxwood is VERY commonly used as bonsai material and makes an excellent bonsai, as a quick search of Google Photos using the words "boxwood bonsai" will illustrate. In my 20+ years as a bonsai practitioner, I've done several demonstration stylings of boxwood and led several workshops using various varieties of box as subject material. I've also attended a number of workshops led by bonsai masters as an observer and watched their demo stylings of boxwood at various bonsai events. It is hardy to USDA zone 5 or 6 in the US, which isn't particularly hardy, nor is it all that tender.
The 'idea' of bonsai is to maintain trees in good health while using a wide variety of styling techniques to replicate a tree of great age as it might appear in nature. The tree should be evocative, moving your imagination immediately to construct a scenario by which nature might have sculpted the tree in whatever form (bonsai style) it is being presented. Bonsai trees can take any one of dozens upon dozens of styles. They can be formal uprights, informal uprights, weeping, slant style, semi-cascade, full cascade, literati, multi-trunk, forest, mother/daughter, raft style ....... etc. The trees styled as cascades, semi-cascades, and possibly slant styles as they might appear on a mountain side are only a small representation of the easily more than 50 possible styles that boxwood and other bonsai might be grown in.
Al
This message was edited Sep 28, 2011 2:08 PM
