clarification needed on boxwood microphylla var. japonica

Does this plant have a gold edge? When I bought the plant, it had a golden border and for a while I thought it was a variegated hybrid or sport. However, over time, new foliage comes out entirely green.

I grow several boxwood and I've never observed this happen. I have solid green as well as variegated which stay variegated all the time.

Your help will be appreciated.

This is the same plant. One pic shows lower foliage with golden edge, the other pic shows fully green upper foliage . Same plant . Thanks for your help

Voss, how much time lapse is in between photo's? What seasonal circumstances were in play for each photo?

took pics this afternoon. If you are asking how long before all green foliage appeared, well , not sure, When I planted the boxwood ALL leaves had the gold edge and that was about 6 mo ago. so new growth happened in that period, I'm guessing

I basically wanted to know when you took the first pic, was it 6 mo. ago? The second pic was taken yesterday, right? I'm still seeing a gold edge on the second pic, just not as pronounced as the first pic. How much shade have you planted your boxwood in?

Good morning. Both pics were taken yesterday within seconds of ea other. I see the edge to which you refer so when it lightens up this morning I will see if maybe the new foliage does have gold edging , just not as pronounced. Still I have no other boxwood that does that, so new to me.

I have found that some Boxwood varieties show strong variegation when they're small and grow out of it. Read this:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/shrubs/msg0417393928224.html

I also know that variegation is not always permanent. Some species revert entirely and others will grow new branches without variegation, sometimes leaving the majority of the plant without variegation at maturity (without human intervention of select pruning). It is also my understanding that sun/shade/soil PH/moisture has an impact on performance, it all depends on each plants preference. A variegated variety may have different requirements than the species.

At any rate, your boxwood looks healthy and happy.

I've got several variegated boxwoods which have retained basically the same variegation for 15yrs, so I haven't seen any indication of variegation disappearing w/ maturity. I've had several instances of small branch reversions, which I've clipped out. But all my boxwoods took a beating last winter - lost 50-75% of each plant. I haven't pulled them out yet - we'll see if they can recover sufficiently in the next year or two - currently pitiful looking eyesores. Here's mine from this past summer. Poor guy!

Edited to mention that mine pictured below is a buxus sempervirens; I didn't realize you were referring to microphylla, which I think is hardier than sempervirens. I just planted a fairly tiny buxus microphylla 'Golden Dream', which sailed thru the same winter without much injury, but I had put a burlap coat on him since it was his first winter.

This message was edited Dec 14, 2014 12:21 PM

did you lose them to extreme hot or cold. Back in the drought from hell in 2011, my boxwoods suffered quite a bit with a lot of dieback. I cut all of it off which resulted in unattractive gaps in my hedgerows. I simply planted small plants in the gaps and 3 years later the row is almost normal. I have learned to keep a watchful eye on the dieback and cut it off sooner rather than later.

yesterday I found two more of the boxwoods with the golden edges. as you can see, every leaf on the plants have the gold. But I can tell you that new foliage comes out green. It is possible that in Spring's full swing they might get the marking, I will post here.

I was just wondering if anybody has has a similar experience. Pic will be in next post

Too dark a pic of the. 2 one gal plants I found on clearance. Other pics are foliage closeup

Mine were damaged by the extreme cold of last winter.
Very interesting about your variegation - I'll play closer attention.

Mipii, I finally had the good sense to look at the GW link you provided. It seems to describe exactly what I have observed with my plants. Oh well, so they turn green at maturity. no biggie, for $1.99, no biggie at all!

Wee, I'm sorry for your Boxwoods beaten back like that. I would do what you're doing too and hope for recovery. Did you check to see if the stems were still green?

Voss, yours could just be working out a little transplant shock and will eventually spring back to their original variegated glory. Ha, less than 2 bucks is a great deal!