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Shrubs to Make Mazes

Mazes have been part of European culture since ancient times, with the winding pathways separated by rocks, walls, raised turf areas and plant hedges of different kinds. In the Middle Ages, mazes of different types were incorporated into gardens. The designs were usually defined by low bushes and were enjoyed as ornaments. By the 1600s, gardens had puzzle mazes with high hedges people couldn't see over. Maze plants are typically evergreen, dense, able to be sheared and capable of growing to the desired height.

  1. Traditional Puzzle Maze Plants

    • Common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) and yew (Taxus spp.) are the preferred tall hedge plants. Both accept pruning well, are evergreen and grow slowly, so that once to size, frequent pruning isn't needed. More than 400 cultivars of boxwood, with varieties suitable for any height and width of hedge, grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 6 or zones 5 through 8, depending on the cultivar. Common yew (Taxus baccata), or English yew, grows slowly up to 20 feet tall and adapts to a wide variety of soil types and exposures. The dark green bushes can have red berries in winter and grow in USDA zones 5b through 7b. The hybrid Hicks yew (Taxus x media "Hicksii") is more vigorous, growing 10 to 12 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide in USDA zones 4 through 7.

    Floral Maze Plants

    • Lower-growing plants with flowers and fragrant foliage that accept close pruning often make floral maze hedges. Candidates include lavender (Lavandula spp.), with gray-green foliage and blue to purple fragrant flowers, hardy in USDA zones 5 through 11 depending on the species. "Miss Jessopp's Upright" rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis "Miss Jessopp's Upright") grows 5 to 8 feet tall, with blue-gray flowers and highly scented needlelike leaves, hardy in USDA zones 8 through 11. Silvery-white aromatic foliage of mounding lavender cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus) grows 1 1/2 feet tall and 3 feet wide, with bright, buttonlike summer flowers. This drought-tolerant plant grows in USDA zones 7 through 9.

    Evergreen Conifers

    • Dense enough to prevent walk-throughs from one path to another and easily kept trimmed, conifers also have fragrant foliage. Western red cedar (Thuja plicata "Atrovirens") has shining, dark green foliage suitable for trimming to 6-foot-high hedges. It is hardy in USDA zones 6 through 8a. Quick-growing Lawson cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), suitable for USDA zones 5 through 9, has columnar dark blue-green growth that gives quick hedge formation.

    Prickly Shrubs

    • To discourage maze-walkers from taking short cuts, use shrubs with prickles and thorns plus dense branching habits. Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) grows 6 to 10 feet tall with small, dark-green, serrate-edged leaves. Slow growth is suitable for clipping to tight, formal-looking hedges in USDA zones 6 through 9. Wintergreen barberry (Berberis julianae) has wine-red to bronzy leaves in the winter, joined by blue-black berries. Dense, impenetrable branches are armed with three-parted spines and spiny leaves. Growing to 4 to 6 feet tall, wintergreen barberry grows in USDA zones 6 through 9a.

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Shrubs
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