Ideas on Where to Plant Boxwoods

Property Line

• Although some people place a chain link or wooden fence on their property line to confine or demarcate their land, a hedgerow of boxwood shrubs makes a viable alternative. Because plants grow slowly and tolerate pruning, an impressive hedge anywhere from 2 to 6 feet tall can be created over several decades. The boxwoods may also mask unattractive chain or wooden posts of a fence. A row of boxwoods could line any area, such as a driveway or swimming pool patio, or divide a spacious lawn into segregated areas.

Formal, Mirrored Accents

• Two, four or six boxwood shrubs can flank entryways, geometrically balanced house facades and gates. Formal garden designs need balance, and planting even numbers of shrubs -- half on one side of a visual axis and half on the other -- accentuates the sense of balance. Boxwoods at the corners of buildings, at the bottom of porch columns and arbors or gazebo supports visually anchors the structures to the green landscape. Gates may gain more prominent with large, rounded boxwood shrubs.

Parterre

• In the French gardening tradition, parterres were flat, carpetlike flowerbeds with intricate geometric shapes -- usually outlined by low hedges of boxwoods. Colored flowers grow between the boxwood hedges. If your garden lacks space for a large parterre, a low hedge of boxwoods can line a rose or herb garden, or it can be a border for all garden beds on the property.

Containers

• Boxwoods can thrive in large containers, including whiskey barrels, concrete planters or sculptural urns. The shrubs survive the winter and allow you to move the containers around to change the look of the garden. A key maintenance consideration about boxwoods grown in containers is that they need regular watering to ensure roots don't dry out and cause the evergreen leaves to yellow.