Boxwood can be found in almost every garden, often as a low or high hedge or topiary. The easy-to-cut, evergreen tree can be cut into all sorts of imaginative shapes and figures, a fashion that began in the Baroque period.
What is the boxwood and where does it occur?
The boxwood is an evergreen shrub from the boxwood family (Buxaceae), which is found in many gardens as a hedge plant or topiary. Popular varieties are “Faulkner”, “Herrenhausen” and “Blauer Heinz”. The plant is poisonous and widespread in Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America.
The boxwood 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: partial shade, sun
- Height: depending on the species and variety between 50 centimeters and 6 meters
- Growth habit: small shrub or tree
- Age: 500 years and more
- Root shape: shallow roots, dense root network
- Evergreen / summer green: evergreen
- Leaves: egg-shaped, between one and 2.5 centimeters long
- Flowers: inconspicuous, only in older specimens
- Flowering time: March to May
- Fruits: black capsule fruits
- Poisonousness: all parts of the plant are poisonous
- Winter hardiness: high (with the exception of 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 contrast, only two species are native to Europe: The common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) comes from the Mediterranean region and was already cultivated as a garden plant in the ancient Roman Empire around 2,000 years ago. The Balearic boxwood (Buxus balearica) also found (and still finds) its way into many gardens in the Mediterranean region as a cultivated plant. In Central Europe, however, 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 popular with us as a garden tree for some time now.
Popular varieties for the home garden
In this country, only Buxus sempervirens and Buxus microphylla are relevant as garden plants. The most popular varieties include:
- 'Faulkner': B. microphylla, shiny, dark green foliage, more wide than tall, not very sensitive to fungal diseases
- 'Herrenhausen': B. microphylla, quite low with comparatively large leaves, foliage color light green to yellowish, not very sensitive to fungal diseases
- 'Angustifolia': B. sempervirens, dark green foliage, height up to 90 centimeters
- 'Argenteo variegata': B. sempervirens, golden yellow leaf edges
- 'Blue Heinz': B. sempervirens, blue-green foliage, low growth
- ‘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 high
- ‘Marginata’: B. sempervirens, light green foliage with yellow edge
- 'Rotundifolia': B. sempervirens, up to 100 centimeters high
- 'Suffruticosa': B. sempervirens, light green foliage, stays low up to 50 centimeters high
Tip
In particular, the low varieties 'Blauer Heinz' and 'Suffruticosa', which are popular for borders, are susceptible to infection by the fungus Cylindrocladium buxicola.
