Plant Profile – Box & Box Hedging

Buxus Semperviren

Common Name: Box, Box Wood, Box hedging

 

SEE IMAGES OF BOX (BUXUS SEMPERVIRENS) BELOW:

Box  Shape & Size
Final Height 200cm
FInal spread:200cm
Type: Compact Bush / Neat Hedging
Habit: Spherical / compact

Box  Features
Foliage: Box has fine, dense & evergeen foliage
Colour: Deep Green, sometimes with cream margins
Shape: Ovate

Box Flower: Insignificant
Colour: Cream
Time: Summer

Box Location
Uses: Often grown for its formal qualities, Topiary & low Hedging & Parterres
Aspect: Full Sun / Partial Shade
Soil: Well Drained / Light & Clay Soils
pH: Acid or Alkaline
Hardiness: Fully Hardy
Companion plants: Herbs, Bold Foliage, Ferns, white foliage, roses

Other Box Infornation

Box hedging and Buxus sempervirens is one of the most sought after plants. Its unique growing habit of fine dense leaves and hardy evergreen resilience make this a plant worthy of any garden.
Buxus is grown and trained by twice yearly cuts – this keeps the plants from becoming too large and allows gardeners to train and shape their plants to any range of shapes. This known as topiary and Buxus, Yew & privet are all suitable for this type of pruning and training.
While training Buxus to grow as Spheres and cones is popular the most common use for box is as a low formal hedge. If you want to create a low box hedge we recommend that you buy your plants as bare roots in autumn. Plant 5 plants per metre and trim every year to ensure and neat and informal look
Unfortunately, of late Buxus has become somewhat endangered by Box Blight which is a fungus that spreads from plant to plant killing it. At this point there is little in the way of a control for Box Blight other than Sigum however this is not available to domestic users