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Thyme, Sage, Rosemary, Germander, Hosta, and similar plants offer excellent textural contrast to Boxwoods. Choosing low-growing shrubs with lighter foliage colors is also a good option. It is a plus if those shrubs also grow colorful blooms and berries, all the more garden fun.
What perennials go well with boxwoods?
Boxwood creates a green backdrop for colorful perennial flowers, such as salvia, black-eyed Susan and veronica, and annual flowers, such as zinnias, cosmos and cleome. Mix and match flowering shrubs, such as potentilla and dwarf spirea, with boxwoods.
How far apart should you plant boxwoods?
Place the plants 2 feet apart. Those dwarf varieties that should be 2 to 3 feet apart for a grouping or row of individual plants should be squeezed to more like 15 or 18 inches apart for a low hedge. Use a tape measure and string or spray paint to mark the line of your hedge.
How do you use boxwoods in landscaping?
Designing With Boxwoods Accentuate a garden gate. The gate may officially mark the entryway to this garden, but a pair of large boxwoods gives the arrival real presence. Add structure to informal gardens. Edge a garden bed. Make a stately entrance. Soften corners. Plant en masse. Plant a room divider. Dissuade deer.
What can you plant between box balls?
Alternatives to box for topiary and low clipped hedging Yew – the number one alternative to box. Pittosporum. Euonymus. Viburnum tinus (rounded shapes only) Privet (but it’s fast growing so needs clipping regularly) Holly, including Ilex crenata (with warnings…).
Can you plant boxwood too close together?
Shrubs planted around a house are called foundation shrubs because they mask the foundation and soften the transition from the soil to the structure. Placing boxwood shrubs too close to your home can damage its structure and compromise the shrubs’ health. Also, don’t plant the shrubs near downspouts.
Should boxwoods be covered in winter?
It is best to prepare boxwood for winter with a nice layer of mulch, making sure the crown of the plant is not planted or covered too deeply. Moderate winter snowfall can also insulate the plant through the winter. Very large or heavy snowfall should be removed from the plant to not cause breakage or other damage.
Do boxwoods need sun or shade?
The boxwood can be grown as a standalone plant, in groups or as a hedge. Furthermore, the boxwood has been used in containers, topiaries and for bonsai purposes. They can thrive in light shade as well as full sun.
Are boxwoods high maintenance?
Aside from watering and mulching, growing boxwood is a low maintenance task, unless you wish to keep them as a sheared hedge. Shearing, or pruning of boxwood, is the most time-consuming part of boxwood care when they are grown as a hedge, but you will be rewarded with a healthy, long-lasting hedge.
Are boxwoods perennials?
Thanks to their versatility, boxwoods are a perennial favorite among traditionalists and modernists alike. Long associated with French gardens with clipped hedges demarcating shapely parterres, the small-leafed bush is an obvious choice for adding formality to any house facade.
Can you keep boxwoods small?
They can be kept short and are easily kept from overgrowing onto the walkway. When planting boxwoods along a walkway divide the mature width in half and plant the shrub that far from the edge of the walkway. Most smaller varieties can be kept as small as one foot to 2 feet wide.
What is a good replacement for box?
Here are their top five suggestions to use as alternatives to box: Taxus baccata ‘Repandens’ You could use any common yew. Pittosporum ‘Collaig Silver’ Lonicera nitida ‘Maigrun’ Berberis darwinii ‘Compacta’ Corokia x virgata ‘Frosted Chocolate’.
What can I replace box with?
Small leaved holly (ilex crenata ‘Dark Green’) topiary balls, cones, spirals, cubes and instant hedging troughs – available now. Ilex crenata (small leaved holly) is a box substitute. It is an evergreen with leaves very similar to box.
What can I replace hedges with?
Trellis and Vine Screens A simple trellis system or fence supporting vines provides a relatively low-maintenance substitute to the standard hedge. You can grow annual vines, such as morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea), up the vine and rely on the trellis or fence for privacy after the plants die for the season.
What is the fastest growing boxwood?
Tip One: Choose the Right Variety However, the American family of boxwoods (Buxus sempervirens) is generally a faster-growing boxwood. While the English boxwood is more popular, if you want speedy growth in your hedges, then the American boxwood is better.
Which boxwood is best?
If you want a small, compact, low-growing shrub to form a hedge that serves as an accent or border along your walkway, fence line or planting beds, dwarf boxwood varieties are the best pick. The “Dwarf English” boxwood (Buxus sempervirens “Suffruticosa”) creates a border hedge approximately 1 to 2 feet in height.
How tall do boxwoods get?
The common boxwood grows to a height of 15–20′ and a spread of 15–20′ at maturity.
How do you keep boxwoods green?
Provide a two- to three-inch layer of mulch to keep roots cool and conserve soil moisture. Extend the layer of mulch at least one foot beyond the canopy of the plant. In fall and spring, rake away any fallen leaf material to control disease organisms and replenish mulch as needed to maintain good cover.
What time of year do you trim boxwoods?
Early spring, before boxwood begin to flush, is the best time of year to prune. Any old winter color, or tips that have been burned over the winter season, can be trimmed away and will disappear after the spring flush.
What do I spray on boxwoods for winter?
Anti-desiccants are most often used to protect broadleaf evergreens from winter desiccation. Some broadleaf evergreens, such as rhododendrons, boxwoods, andromeda, hollies, and laurels, are particularly susceptible to winter injury from desiccation.
