How to Landscape With Boxwoods & Holly

Boxwood Design Ideas

• 1

  Plant boxwoods as foundation shrubs. Choose low-growing species with rounded shapes, such as Green Velvet and Green Gem, for under windows. Choose species with taller, pyramidal shapes, such as Green Mountain, for planting at the outside corners of your house.

• 2

  Edge a flower garden with low-growing boxwoods, such as Compacta. Use Compacta to form a knot garden that encloses herbs. Provide full-sun or part-shade exposure. Protect shallow roots with 2 to 3 inches of mulch.

• 3

  Prune American species boxwoods, such as Suffruticosa, as topiary specimens. Shape boxwood topiaries near the entrance to your home or plant them in containers for your deck or patio. Protect containers from winter winds that can burn boxwood foliage.

Holly Design Ideas

• 4

  Plant native American evergreen hollies, such as Ilex opaca, with red berries, and inkberry holly (I. glabra), with black berries, to form a hedge. Plant male and female plants for berry production.

• 5

  Plant a tall holly, such as Nellie R. Stevens, as a single specimen plant. Site the holly outside the visual structure of your home so that its mature height will not obstruct your home’s architecture. Look above the planting hole to ensure there are no power lines overhead.

• 6

  Use narrow sky pencil holly (I. crenata) as a vertical landscape interest on either side of your home’s entrance, either in the ground or in containers.