The Not So Ubiquitous Boxwood

The winter garden, stripped of herbaceous perennials and seen through a filigree of leafless deciduous trees and shrubs is not completely dull. Thanks to garden structures such as fences, arbors and paths, and living structures such as conifers and evergreen shrubs I can now appreciate the 'bones' of the garden, the elements that form a framework for the wild tangle of plants that inhabit the garden during the growing season and impose bounderies.

One plant I rely on is Boxwood. Subduded for most of the year it suddenly springs to center stage when more gaudy neighboring plantings depart. These versatile, fine, leaved evergreen shrubs come in heights as tall as trees or as dwarfs, small enough to use as edging plants along a perennial border or pathway. Boxwood can define a garden room or hold the garden in place like a solid green paper wieght.

Boxwood take well to shearing, their branches quickly fill in with new leaves when cut back, for this reason they can be shaped into into any form that catches your fancy. This quality has also made Boxwood an important element in formal gardens and for use in Topiairy. In this Boxwood park in Belgium 95% of the parterres and topiaires are made from Boxwood.

Left to grow naturally they form a billowy cloud of tight knit foliage that can be quite beautiful and impenetrable, especially if used as a massive hedge.

Boxwood has a history that can be traced back to 4000 BC in Eygpt. Both England and France have claimed Boxwood as an important element in their gardens. When Boxwood was first introduced to the Americas it became very important in formal early American gardens like those found in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The two most horticulturally important are Common Boxwood, Buxus sempervirens, from northern Africa and southern Europe, and Littleleaf Boxwood, Buxus mycrophylla, from Japan and Korea. Though, both England and America extol the merits of their perspective varieties, English versus American Boxwood, neither are native to thier countries. The so called English variety is Buxus sempervirens 'Suffructicosa.' This variety is slow-growing and has a fine leaf texture. The American Boxwood is B.semperivirens 'Arborescens' has a more coarse texture and can reach tree like porportions.

There are many cultivars of Boxwood from both Common Boxwood and Little leaf Boxwood with a broad range of sizes, shapes, and even colors. The Best way to to tell the difference between the two are by smell. Common Boxwood has an unpleasent odor that emanates from the stems when they are bruised. One Common Boxwood, cultivar, I find exciting and fun to work with is Buxus 'Graham Blandy,' which can grow six to eight feet tall and spread to only a foot wide. These columnar Boxwoods can be used as sentinels on two sides of a pathway or doorway or as a focal point in the distance. I have also wondered if they could be used to form an arch. One that I would like to grow is B. 'Pyramidalis' which grows in a soft pyramidal shape. Buxus 'Aureomarginata' is another wonderful cultivar of this group. With its varigated yellow foliage it lightens up a shaded area of my garden. It can grow to eight feet if not kept pruned. This is no problem for me as I love to use the colorful foliage in flower arrangements.

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