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Rediscovering boxwood topiary, the backbone of many landscapes and formal gardens for centuries. Boxwood is evergreen, drought-tolerant, and deer-resistant.
Over the years, boxwood has fallen in and out of favor, but with increased deer browsing, water restrictions in our cities and suburbs, and the discovery of numerous new cultivars, boxwood are once again gaining popularity.
Boxwoods are:
- deer-resistant
- drought-tolerant
- easy to maintain; most require little pruning
- versatile; many grow in both shade and sun
- long-lived; they offer permanence in the landscape
- multi-functional, thanks to their many shapes, sizes, colors, textures, and growth rates
Takes a few moments to go through our live boxwood care guides so you can be successful in growing a topiary garden!
We provide references for live boxwood care:
- Boxwood Topiary Foliage Survival Care for the 52 Contiguous USA States
- Live Boxwood Foliage Care (planting, pruning, propagation, etc)
- Live Boxwood Pests
- How to Manage Boxwood Foliage Diseases?
Do‘s
- Do remove the burlap from your boxwood. It will speed up the development of new roots, however, if it is a loose soil ball leave burlap on.
- Do water your boxwood plants well when received and after. Because they are grown in the earth they will be balled and burlapped or containerized. It is imperative that the root ball is saturated with water. It takes time and development for boxwood hair-like roots to grow outside the ball.
- Do fertilize your boxwood until established. Use a balanced fertilizer. 10.10.10 up to 14.14.14 Fall, October and Spring, early March. If planted in a container fertilize more frequently. More watering is required when plants are contained, use a liquid fertilizer supplement.
- Do prune your boxwood if a certain shape or size is desired. Use sharpened manual shearers, however, if you have long high hedges you may want to invest in a gas or electric shearer. Plants may be pruned most times of the year excluding Winter.
- Do Prune the week of June 1, new growth comes on by mid-August covering up the unsightly cut leaves. True boxwood enthusiasts pluck their boxwood. Topiary may require more clipping
- Do try to root your own boxwood cuttings. In November take cutting off tips of boxwood about 4” long place in a tray of dense soil or sand. Keep them in a warmer area, ideally a greenhouse and you may have the beginning of some little boxwood.
Do NOT
- Don’t buy boxwood from a dirty nursery. Check out the condition of boxwood. No curled scratched or marred leaves. Plants should be dark green, with no yellow tips or scale marks on stems. Roots should be succulent white color.
- Don’t suffocate your boxwood. Like all plants, boxwood needs air, light, water, and nutrients.
- Don’t have a male dog that lifts his leg higher than 18” around your boxwood. Multiple sprays of urine on a spot will eventually yellow the leaves in that area. Clip out and train the dog to relieve himself on a tree trunk.
- Don’t forget to water and fertilize your boxwood.
- Don’t get herbicides on your boxwood leaves. It will probably survive, but it will set it back.
- Don’t worry. Boxwood is very forgiving. It has many hair-like roots that supply water and nutrients to the plant.
- Don’t let exhaust from gas shearers get next to your boxwood. May burn holes in the plant at that point.
- Don’t park a car or truck with side exhausts next to boxwood. It will burn a hole in your boxwood.