From The Gardens

The holiday season is upon us and many of us are decorating our homes with fresh greens.  Since I have no evergreen trees on my property (we’ve always regretted not planting a few “Christmas trees”), I usually use trimmings from my boxwood.  I am always amazed, therefore, at the number of people who are surprised that boxwood is hardy here in Central New York.

Buxus is a genus of evergreen trees and shrubs grown for their beautiful, shiny dark green foliage.  Because of its growth habit, it is easily shaped and clipped making it very useful for topiaries, hedges and edging.  To be sure, many of the species are just barely frost hardy, but common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) is hardy to zone 5 and below depending on placement in the garden.

Twelve years ago a friend gave me a small bush that she had grown from a cutting.  I planted it on the north-east side of the house where it would be somewhat protected from the drying winds of winter.  It is now  four feet across and at least that tall.  Untrimmed, it would eventually reach 15 feet tall.

B. microphylla or small-leaved box only grows to a height of three feet, and forms a dense mound of small dark green leaves.  The cultivar  “Green Velvet” was developed in Ontario, Canada and is super hardy, compact and suffers little from harsh winter winds that can burn the leaves of exposed plants in the garden.  There are some cultivars with variously variegated foliage, but non of those are hardy for us.

Boxwood will grow in full sun or partial shade in well drained soil.  The flowers are  rather inconspicuous yellow florets that dry into berry like clusters that remain on the plant into the winter.  The do not seem to occur every year, however.  The plants are usually clipped or trimmed in summer.  To promote new growth the stems may be cut back to twelve inches in late spring.  This will produce a dense hedge or edging.  As I said, though, I trim mine in November when readying the house for the holidays.  The cut branches stay fresh looking for months if kept moist, and so are wonderful for holiday arrangements.

Propagate new  plants from softwood cuttings in summer. More plants can also be acquired by layering, that is laying a stem on the ground, covering it with soil and allowing roots to form along the stem naturally.   The stem is then severed from the mother  plant and replanted.  Boxwood may also be grown from seed, but the plants are very slow to develop.