Boxwood can be found in almost every garden, often as a low or high hedge or topiary. The evergreen tree, which is easy to cut, can be cut into all sorts of imaginative shapes and figures, a trend that began in the Baroque era.
Boxwood is a very popular shrub for landscaping
The box tree in an informative overview
- Botanical name: Buxus
- Popular names: Buchs, Bux
- Plant family: Boxwood family (Buxaceae)
- Occurrence: Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America
- Species: about 30
- Location: semi-shade, sun
- Height: between 50 centimeters and 6 meters depending on the species and variety
- Growth form: small shrub or tree
- Age: 500 years and more
- Root form: Shallow roots, dense root network
- Periwinkle / Deciduous: evergreen
- Leaves: ovate, between one and 2.5 centimeters long
- flowers: inconspicuous, only in older specimens
- Flowering time: March to May
- Fruits: black capsule fruits
- Toxicity: all parts of the plant are poisonous
- Hardiness: high (except for non-native species)
- Use: hedge plant, bed border, topiary, solitaire, bonsai
Characterization, species and varieties
With the exception of Australia, New Zealand and the North and South Poles, boxwood species are found almost everywhere in the world. Most of the approximately 30 species come from the tropics and subtropics. In Europe, on the other hand, only two species are native: the common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) comes from the Mediterranean region and was already cultivated as a garden plant in the ancient Roman Empire around 2000 years ago. The Balearic boxwood (Buxus balearica) was (and still is) used as a cultivated plant in many Mediterranean gardens. In Central Europe, on the other hand, this species plays no role, in contrast to the Buxus microphylla, the small-leaved or Japanese boxwood, which comes from the Far East. This has been part of traditional Japanese gardens for centuries, but has also been a popular garden tree in our country for some time.
Popular varieties for the home garden
In this country, only Buxus sempervirens and Buxus microphylla are relevant as garden trees. The most popular varieties include:
- 'Faulkner': B. microphylla, glossy, dark green foliage, broader than tall, not very sensitive to fungal diseases
- 'Herrenhausen': B. microphylla, quite low with comparatively large leaves, light green to yellowish foliage color, not very sensitive to fungal diseases
- 'Angustifolia': B. sempervirens, dark green foliage, height of growth up to 90 centimeters
- 'Argenteo variegata': B. sempervirens, golden yellow leaf edges
- 'Blauer Heinz': B. sempervirens, blue-green foliage, low habit
- 'Globosa': B. sempervirens, naturally spherical growth
- 'Graham Blandy': B. sempervirens, columnar growth, up to three meters high, remaining narrow
- 'Handsworthiens': B. sempervirens, fast growing, up to five meters tall
- 'Marginata': B. sempervirens, light green foliage with yellow margins
- 'Rotundifolia': B. sempervirens, up to 100 centimeters high
- 'Suffruticosa': B. sempervirens, light green foliage, stays short at up to 50 centimeters in height
tips
In particular, the low cultivars 'Blauer Heinz' and 'Suffruticosa', popular for edging, are susceptible to infection by the fungus Cylindrocladium buxicola.