Dwarf English Boxwood
From PlantWiki
| Dwarf English Boxwood |
|---|
|
| Species |
| Buxus |
Contents |
HISTORY
The genus known as Buxus contains 70 species of evergreen shrubs. In English speaking European countries, you will find these landscape plants commonly referred to as ‘Box” and in North America as ‘Boxwood’. The species Buxus is comprised of hardy evergreen shrubs known for dense growth and a slow growing habit are available in mature sizes ranging from 3 feet to 6 feet tall. Sometimes referred to as American Boxwood, this group of handsome shrubs are natives of natural plant growth in southern Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. Buxus sermpervirens, or English Boxwood, is a versatile dwarf evergreen bush with a fine texture to the foliage.
In US climates they are hardy as far north as zone 6 without protection for all cultivars of Buxus sempervirens. Some of the improved cultivars of the Boxwood species, such as Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’ are winter hardy to zone 5, when not subjected to north or western winter winds. This particular selection of the English Boxwood species is normally called, Dwarf English Boxwood and is a native plant of the understory found in natural Beech forests in the chalk and limestone soils of Britain.
CHARACTERISTICS
The Dwarf English Boxwood, Buxus sermpervirens ‘Suffruticosa’ is a small shrub that in cultivation will mature at a minimum of 3 foot high and 3 foot wide. The small oval leaves are a rich glossy green packed thickly onto the natural dense branching habit. Due to this natural leaf and branching habit, Dwarf Boxwood lends itself beautifully to hedging and even low lying topiary design. This Buxus adapts to a wide variety of soils and thrives in part sun to light shade of zone 5-8. It exhibits excellent resistant to pests and disease, along with moderate drought tolerance once established, though for best vigor it is advisable to water boxwood shrubs regularly.
While Dwarf Boxwood does flower, the blooms are a yellow green and nothing ornamental. The blooms are pollinated by bees and insects but do not produce berries of ornamental significance. They are easy to grow and adjust to many different soil types with good drainage allowed, including slightly alkaline, clay, sand, acidic, and loam. Except for protecting them from intense sun and dehydrating bitter winter winds, this dwarf evergreen boxwood is not very picky about where it is planted.
USES
Due to their natural attributes for handsome results as a sheared hedge, Dwarf English Boxwood is traditionally used in low grown hedges so famous for that English garden design theme. Having been employed as herb garden edging and evergreen borders in many situations over hundreds of years, Dwarf Boxwood is a reliable shrub where geometric accents are desired and low maintenance preferred.
The natural dense growing habits of Dwarf Boxwood provide many different applications for beautifying the garden, the formal landscape and commercial property plantings alike. Unlike many bushes commonly used for landscaping design, Boxwood adores a harsh shearing and maintains it’s shaping well with only one to two clippings per year. In sandier soils, good moisture is especially important and if provided regularly, English Dwarf Boxwood will thrive wonderfully in such a situation too.
HOME USES
These particular Boxwood shrubs is extremely versatile in the different roles it is capable of filling in your landscape. Due to its slow growing and lush nature, when creating a hedge or low growing shrubbery border, it is important to plant them thick enough to fill into a nice line in a reasonable time. Boxwood shrubs should be planted 18-21 inches apart for good thick evergreen hedge fill. This small evergreen shrub is welcome in any garden or foundation bed because it is so well suited for clean edges on a relaxed, comfortable landscape theme or sheared for a more geometric, formal look when needed.
The wonders of design application achievable using Dwarf English Buxus in the yard, is really quite amazing. This shrub lends itself to creating crisp edges on very informal plantings and placing geometry so beloved in contemporary and formal design. It is perfect for edging a driveway as it never grows more than 3 feet tall without shearing and creates a wonderful effect outlining front sidewalks and terraced gardens. In Europe, Dwarf Boxwood was commonly used in the creation of beautiful topiary and knot garden designs along with many other romantic applications.
When deciding where to plant Dwarf English Boxwood, you won’t find issues of it over growing your window sills and creating hazards of sight impairment even at the very end of the driveway. Dwarf Boxwood can be a singular specimen plant, a soft flowing group planting silhouette or create smooth evergreen plant lines in many places that other shrubs are just far too gigantic at maturity to suit the space. You’ll find the fine texture an excellent accent to large leaved plants and a permanent presence for marking out your perennial or vegetable and herb gardens. Not to mention its perfection of creating just the right note of elegance in the formal plantings many homes need for curb appeal and front door entry plantings today.