Content
Boxwood is a very ancient plant; its use in landscape design dates back several hundred, and maybe thousands of years. After all, it is difficult to imagine a plant that is as unpretentious as it is grateful for care and maintains its decorative appearance throughout the year. And a hedge made of boxwood, if desired, can become a real work of art and decorate the area no worse than flowering shrubs.
Features of a boxwood hedge
Perhaps there is only one drawback to a boxwood hedge - it grows too slowly. However, when creating boxwood borders, this disadvantage can easily be turned into an advantage. And if you really want to get a beautiful hedge quickly, then you can plant fairly mature bushes, at the age of about 8-10 years. After all, boxwood easily takes root when transplanted if it is done in the right way on time.
Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine a better plant for a beautiful and dense hedge. It has rather small, shiny leaves, which cling to the branches in large quantities.In addition, they do not fall off in the winter, which means that the site is provided with decorative properties throughout all 12 months of the year. In terms of density and density of growth, boxwood has no rival among evergreen plants. In the literature you can find another name for boxwood - buxus, derived from its Latin name.
The plants tolerate any pruning and crown shaping very well - they only begin to bush even more and grow in width. This property is actively used by professional phytodesigners to create garden sculptures from boxwood that are stunning in beauty and originality.
In addition, boxwood bushes have amazing unpretentiousness. They can grow successfully on different types of soil and are not afraid of open sun or even dense shade.
Buxus is a long-lived plant; it can live up to 500 years. This means that a hedge formed from it may well serve several generations. By the way, there is a popular legend that a boxwood fence can protect not only from prying eyes, but also from uninvited guests in the form of evil spirits.
The best varieties of boxwood for hedges
Despite the typical southern origin of boxwood, in recent years small hedges made from this shrub can be found in the Moscow region, the Volga region, the Urals and even in the southern part of Siberia. Of course, the most popular species is the evergreen boxwood (buxussempervirens). It tolerates even Ural frosts quite steadfastly and only needs protection from too bright spring sun.
The most beautiful and at the same time relatively stable varieties of boxwood for hedges are the following:
- Aureovariegata – against the background of emerald foliage, small yellowish inclusions are clearly visible, which look like an explosion of fireworks in a flower garden.
- Latifolia Maculata – A dwarf variety of boxwood with golden-hued leaves.
- Elegans - another very decorative variety, the festive shade of which is given by a light yellow border along the edges of the leaf.
- Suffruticosa - This is one of the representatives of dwarf slow-growing boxwoods, not exceeding 1 m in height.
- Marginata – the leaves of this variety are dotted with yellowish veins.
Of course, it should be understood that in rather harsh climatic conditions it is better not to take risks and plant the usual green form of evergreen boxwood. And varieties with bright colors are more suitable for regions with a relatively mild climate.
Planting a boxwood hedge
Planting a bush hedge must be taken seriously. After all, as noted above, this fence can be created to last for centuries and it is desirable that the most optimal place for it be selected in all respects.
Preparing the landing site and soil
Most often, a boxwood fence is planted along an existing fence: a chain-link fence or a wooden one. In this case, the dense greenery of the bushes will serve as reliable protection from prying eyes and at the same time decorate the area. In other cases, a boxwood hedge is planted where it is necessary to divide the area into zones. For example, separating a residential area from utility rooms or a vegetable garden.
Boxwood does not make any special demands on the soil, but it will still develop better and faster on soils of medium and light mechanical composition. It is important that there is moisture in the soil, especially in the upper layers. But especially in regions with a humid and cold climate, when planting boxwood, you need to pay special attention to good drainage in the soil. Because if the groundwater level is high, plants may soon die.
Soil acidity is not of decisive importance. Boxwood does not accept only highly acidified or saline soils.
In any case, before planting, it is necessary to prepare the area so that the planted hedge looks smooth and aesthetically pleasing, and the plants take root safely.
- To do this, first of all, mark the future planting site using stakes and a rope stretched between them.
- Determine a strip about 40-60 cm wide and carefully mow all the grass and other vegetation on it.
- Then, using a regular bayonet shovel, remove a layer of turf 5-10 cm deep from the mowed strip. The easiest way is to remove the turf in small pieces, approximately 25x20 cm in area.Comment! The removed turf can be used to create organic fertilizer on your compost pile.
- After removing the turf, if necessary, lightly loosen the soil in the resulting trench.
- If the soil is too dense and viscous (heavy loam), then add peat or sand on top at the rate of one bucket per linear meter of the planting ditch. Stir.
The initial preparation of the site for planting a boxwood hedge can be considered complete.
Next, for planting, you need to prepare several wheelbarrows with compost or humus.They will act as fertilizers that will need to be added to the planting mixture when planting boxwood bushes. The following are also excellent fertilizers to add to the planting mixture:
- wood ash;
- horn shavings;
- granulated superphosphate;
- bone or blood meal.
At what distance to plant boxwood for borders and hedges?
The distance between boxwood bushes when planting a hedge is chosen based on the result that they want to get. If you plan to form a very dense hedge of strict geometric shapes, then the distance between the seedlings should be no more than 30-40 cm. If you prefer to see a free-growing hedge, in which you can see all the natural beauty of the bush, then the plants are planted at a distance of 50-80 cm.
If you intend to get a border of dwarf forms of boxwood, then leave no more than 15-25 cm between the bushes when planting.
When calculating the distance between boxwood bushes when planting, it is also necessary to take into account the individual characteristics of a particular variety. The above are only general average recommendations. If any unique varieties of boxwood will be used for planting, then you need to additionally find out about the width of an adult bush at the nursery.
When placing boxwood plants in two rows, the bushes must be planted in a checkerboard pattern.
Landing rules
Boxwood can easily tolerate replanting at almost any age, especially if seedlings with a closed root system are used. Most often, plants aged from 3 to 8 years are used for planting hedges.The older the seedling, the more attention needs to be paid to its preparation for planting. The fact is that in the limited volume of the container, the roots of fairly mature plants become so tangled and interfere with each other that before planting they need to be untangled and relaxed so that when they come into contact with fresh soil they can immediately begin to grow.
The most tangled root ends can be carefully cut with scissors or pruners. This will not damage the boxwood, but will allow the roots to quickly recover and develop further.
Even at the stage of selecting seedlings, you should pay attention to the leaves. They should be fresh, firm and free of any stains (unless it is a decorative variety).
Boxwood bushes with a closed root system can be planted at any time, from March to November, depending on the weather conditions of the region. Of course, it is advisable to carry out this process in cloudy weather.
The technology for planting hedges is as follows:
- In the prepared trench, holes are dug in the ground. Their depth approximately corresponds to the length of the roots of the seedlings, and their width is 1.5-2 times greater.
- The soil removed when digging holes is mixed in equal proportions with humus or compost. If desired, add other slow-release fertilizers.
- Boxwood seedlings with straightened roots are placed in the recesses and carefully covered with planting mixture.
- It is important not to deepen the bushes too much so that the root collar is at soil level.
- The soil around the seedlings is lightly compacted and watered.
- Then the bases of the bushes are mulched with a layer of peat, straw or rotted sawdust. There is no need to create too thick a layer of mulch. A thickness of 4-5 cm is sufficient.
Caring for a boxwood hedge
Boxwood is an unpretentious plant and does not require anything special to care for. Watering is necessary only in hot and dry weather. Fertilizers should be applied no earlier than 12 months after planting. It is better to replace loosening the soil by constantly adding mulching material under the bushes. This will protect the soil from weeds, maintain moisture in the upper layers of the soil, and save on fertilizer application. Before the winter dormant period, the boxwood hedge is watered generously to saturate the soil with moisture and allow the plants to overwinter better.
The most important procedure in caring for a boxwood hedge is cutting.
Young boxwood plants grow very slowly, the annual growth can be literally 5-8 cm. With age and with proper pruning, the growth rate can increase slightly and reach 10-20 cm per year. However, a lot also depends on the variety chosen for planting.
In the first season after planting, boxwood plants are pruned only once, usually by 1/3 or ½ of the entire height, to allow many shoots to form at the base of the bushes. Starting from the second season, plants are pruned regularly, several times a year, at intervals of approximately 6 weeks. Pruning begins at the end of April or in May, with the establishment of relatively warm weather. The bushes begin to be given the necessary shape even before they have time to close together or reach the desired height.
If you want to decorate a boxwood hedge with alternating decorative figures (balls, pyramids, waves), then templates are made from wire or wooden slats. They are fixed above the plants. Later, during pruning, all branches protruding beyond the boundaries of the established template are removed. Thus, you can form any sculptural composition from boxwood.
Photo of a boxwood hedge
Boxwood hedges can be given almost any shape, as in the photo:
- rectangular;
- triangular;
- smoothed or rounded.
Boxwood hedges can be very low, more like a border:
And also high and monumental, like walls:
They can wriggle in the form of bizarre patterns:
And even in the form of labyrinths:
They can be decorated with all sorts of sculptural forms or entire compositions:
Serve as a backdrop for taller hedges:
Or flowering walls:
And also act as separate sculptural compositions decorating the site:
Conclusion
A boxwood hedge will certainly become one of the original decorations of the site. It will help divide the territory into zones, protect it from uninvited glances, and will serve more than one generation of the family.
