Content
- The most popular boxwood varieties for the garden
- Ordinary boxwood (Buxus sempervirens)
- Small-leaved boxwood (Buxus microphylla)
- Tips
Even the small-leaved boxwood can be divided into several varieties
The most popular boxwood varieties for the garden
The genus of evergreen boxwood (Buxus) comprises about 30 different species, two of which are particularly interesting for the home garden: the native ordinary boxwood and the small-leaved boxwood from Asia.
Ordinary boxwood (Buxus sempervirens)
Buxus sempervirens has been cultivated for thousands of years: even the Neanderthals appreciate the shrub for its extremely hard wood, from which, for example, excellent digging sticks can be made. Finally, in the Roman Empire, this boxwood species was already a popular garden shrub and was used among other things for edging. In their conquest campaigns, the Romans took the woods with them, thus introducing them from the Mediterranean region to other parts of Europe. However, his true career began only in the 16th century, when the gardeners designed Versailles' ornate figures out of him.
Small-leaved boxwood (Buxus microphylla)
Buxus microphylla, in turn, is widely distributed in Asia and is one of the traditional plantings of a Japanese garden. The species is slightly weaker than Buxus sempervirens and is also considered to be less sensitive to the harmful fungus Cylindrocladium buxicola, which causes the dreaded instinctual dying.
Tips
For form and figure cuts you should use medium or high-growing varieties such as 'Globosa' and 'Rotundifolia'.