Hi, welcome to the obsession! Careful about the wire on boxwood as they can be brittle, and are more often shaped by 'clip 'n grow' than wiring. Why not look at www.bonsai4me.com for a lot of good basic info., at www.evergreengardenworks.com for the same, with some differences, and www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html for great stuff on indoor (tropical) trees, then come back with specific questions if you have them.

i've actually hit up all those listed sites, a few by accident, and a few by deliberate search online for specific topics.

i guess i should clarify, that my current course of action is:

1. make sure the boxwood plants are healthy and thriving as a pure boxwood (not as a bonsai)
2. make little to none serious pruning
3. wait for trunk to grow to desired 1.5" size
4. trunk chop to ~5" above soil
5. prune to develop a new primary
6. trunk chop at 10" once new primary has reached good size
7. prune for final primary and wait for decent development
8. dig up and transplant into bonsai pot.

this is obviously going to be a LONG process, but i'm looking for some input on where in that outline i may want to look toward some crucial steps. should i dig up (in the case of the one planted in the ground) and pot it earlier?

I won't comment on your procedure, leaving that to those more competent to do so, but I'd suggest you also get some faster-growing bonsai stock to mess around with. The great beauty of bonsai, for me, is that I can spend very peaceful hours working with plants, pinching back, wiring, repotting, etc. I find this very relaxing and satisfying. I got started with some rosemary plants and a little Chinese elm & have branched out from there.

what are some good stock to start from? i haven't really seen any discussion on this topic.

i picked the 2 boxwood because they were the most "tree like" shrub i could find, and also the 2 I picked out had some nice characteristics at base of the trunk.

i'm certainly open to planting a bunch more in pots, to vary my experience, and give myself a better chance of 1 real bonsai emerging from the learning experince.

Jeff,

Here is a boxwood I have been working on. I followed the same 'garden center' route, but was able to find a specimen that I liked that I felt required no trunk thickening. I also have a juniper and others that I have begun to play with.

Matt

Here is a link that might be useful: