Use Evergreen Boxwood in Your Landscaping

Add shape and winter interest to garden beds and edge walks with these sophisticated shrubs.

Widely used in both formal and more casual gardens, boxwood is one of the most popular shrubs in landscape design. Abundant green foliage year-round, the ability to grow in sun and partial shade, and a high tolerance for pruning make this plant more versatile than many other shrubs. In winter, boxwood provides structure, and in summer, it acts as a dark backdrop for blooming perennials. Here are ideas for adding boxwood to your garden.

Choose boxwood. All box woods belong to the genus Buxus, with about 70 species and hundreds of cultivars. The common or English boxwood is larger, grows faster, and has more pointed leaves than the dwarf English boxwood. Dwarf English boxwood is especially prized for ornamental and edging purposes because its slow-growing habit and compact form require less pruning.

Small leaf boxwood and Korean boxwood both have narrow, dense leaves. Of all the Buxus species, Korean boxwood can survive in the coldest temperatures, making it the best choice for cold winter areas.

Design using boxwood

Highlight the garden gate. A gate may officially mark the entrance to this garden, but in reality, a large boxwood tree marks your arrival. Boxwood in carved balls looks great all year round and can be wrapped in twinkling white lights in winter.

Add structure to your informal garden. Loose gardens can benefit from the addition of boxwood to add structure to free-form perennials and lawns. Boxwood looks attractive all year round. It can help ease the transition in your garden when flowers fade, perennials fade, or beds are left bare in winter.

Trim the edges of the garden bed. The best choices for low-growing hedges are compactly grown boxwood varieties such as dwarf English, Wee Willie and ‘Morris Midget’. Plant plants along garden borders to define flower beds or to edge flower beds in a kitchen garden.

Enter with confidence. Place potted box woods on either side of your front door for a welcoming entryway display that requires much less seasonal care. Plant your boxwood in a well-draining potting mix and keep the soil moist, but not too soggy.

Smooth the edges. Boxwood, cut tightly into a spherical shape or left in a loose mound, can help round the corners of garden beds. Place a single boxwood tree in the center of the corner of the bed, or arrange three boxwood trees of staggered heights in a tight arrangement. Edge trimming can be especially useful in small gardens or narrow intersections where you may be tempted to cut corners to get from one space to the next.

Plant all at once. To maximize the sculptural effect, plant many boxwoods and secure them all in a spherical shape. The repetitive curved shapes create a peaceful, almost hypnotic feeling as sunlight moves over them. To plan your pruning, leave small gaps between box woods so that someone can access the plants in the center of the flower bed.

Install space dividers. A row of boxwood bulbs separates an upper terrace from a lower courtyard in this garden in Buffalo NY USA. The boxwood balls, about 21⁄2 feet tall and wide, help define two areas without blocking each other’s view.

Convince the deer. In gardens frequented by hungry four-legged visitors, box woods can be used in place of other shrubs such as azaleas, arborvitae, roses and yews. Deer avoids boxwood because of its bitter, alkaloid-rich leaves. This compound leaves a slightly astringent odor on the boxwood.

Emphasize the edges. We commonly see boxwood cut into hedges or grown into globes, but forming them into rectangular blocks can be surprisingly effective in accenting hardscape geometry. 

In this Buffalo NY USA garden, low rectangular cut boxwood mimics the form of a staircase, while taller boxwood cubes accentuate the geometry of the water feature to the right.

Secure a parking space. Placing potted box woods equidistant along the sides of the parking lot will help smooth out the wide gravel. Using potted containers in open parking spaces can help show guests where to park. For example, you can move it away from a shade pole or living room window.

Please put it in the window box. Boxwood is a great plant for window boxes because it requires little care and its dark green leaves complement flowers of all colors. Plant border lobelia under box woods in spring to ensure abundant blooms throughout the summer. When the flowers begin to look tired, replace them with bronze or purple-leaved coral bells for interest in the fall and winter.

Make a maze. Although definitely on the high-maintenance side of the spectrum, boxwood mazes can be a beautiful addition to your formal landscape. If you are starting new box woods, plant them half a distance apart from each other at the mature width specified on the plant tag. This spacing allows the boxwood to grow into a sturdy, attractive hedge without any gaps in the maze.