Growing Boxwood at My Farm
Our spring gardening season is always extremely busy. My outdoor grounds crew, gardeners, and I work very hard to make sure all the gardens look their best.
Among our annual tasks this time of year - planting and potting up thousands of bare-root trees and other small seedlings. Over the last week, the crew planted about 600 young boxwoods. These boxwoods are still too small to plant in the garden beds, so they are placed in an enclosure designated for young specimens, where they can be carefully maintained until they are large enough to transplant.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Because the boxwood grows so well here, I plant a few hundred bare-root cuttings every year. I ordered another 600 hundred from Musser Forests, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company specializing in conifer and hardwood seedlings and transplants. Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. Boxwood is native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
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- These are bare-root seedlings, meaning they arrived free of soil on the roots. This helps reduce the price of the seedling and makes them more adaptable to the soil in which they are planted. Once they arrive, they are placed in water right away.
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- This area behind one of several hoop houses and near my chicken coops is where I grow many young boxwood shrubs – the boxwood “nursery.” The back section of this enclosure is where our youngest bare-root cuttings will be planted.
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- Chhiring begins digging holes for each of the seedlings. Because there are so many, the crew works in a production line process.
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- Each hole is about eight-inches deep.
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- The soil in this yard is rich with nutrients, so the boxwood will grow very well here. The space has several sections of growing boxwood – all at different stages of growth.
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- Chhiring sprinkles a generous amount of fertilizer into the holes. Slow-release, balanced fertilizers are best for boxwood.
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- Next, one boxwood seedling is dropped near each hole. Phurba does this in small batches, so the boxwood doesn’t dry out. If planting a lot, keep the new seedlings in shade until they are planted in the ground. And make sure to only use healthy stems with no insect damage or discoloration. These are in excellent condition.
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- Phurba plants each specimen in a hole – keeping them all in a straight line.
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- Then, each hole is back filled, and lightly tapped to ensure good contact with the soil.
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- These two to three year old seedlings are only a few inches tall, but they will grow quickly.
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- This variety is called Buxus ‘Green Mountain’. It is a vigorous evergreen shrub with bright green foliage that retains good color throughout winter. The upright, naturally cone-shaped habit makes it an excellent candidate for planting free-form or for a sculpted hedge. The leaves on boxwood branches are arranged opposite from each other, making pairs.
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- These plants are placed about a foot apart – enough room for them to grow before moving to more permanent locations.
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- These boxwoods were planted just last year – slightly taller and more dense. These young boxwoods will remain here for a couple years before they are transplanted into the garden beds.
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- And these specimens are about three and a half years old. These are growing very well in this “nursery.” These have also already been pruned to give them their round shapes.
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- Some of the exisiting boxwood in this area is Buxus ‘Green Velvet’. This variety is a full-bodied boxwood well-suited for dense, low hedges. Its foliage also retains its rich green color throughout winter and develops a vigorous form.
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- In 2017, I decided to line both sides of my clematis pergola with boxwood. These started off as small cuttings and developed in the “nursery” before being transplanted here. There are more than 300-shrubs planted under the pergola, and they continue to thrive.
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- I have scores of mature boxwood growing around the farm. These boxwood shrubs surround my herbaceous peony garden bed.
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- This is my sunken Summer House Garden – a more formal garden with both English and American boxwood. Boxwood, a popular evergreen shrub in garden landscape, is a very ancient plant. Its ornamental use can be traced back to 4000 BC Egypt. The early Romans favored it in their courtyards. The wood itself is harder than oak and its foliage is dense and compact. Because of its growing habit, boxwood can be sculpted into formal hedges, topiaries, and other fanciful shapes.
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- I also have boxwood hedges on the terraces outside my Winter House.
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- This is a section of my long 450-foot Boxwood Allée. It runs from my stable all the way to the carriage road that leads to my hayfields and woodlands. It is so lush and green and healthy – so healthy, we had to move an entire side of fence to accommodate its growth a couple of years ago. I am so proud of the boxwood here at my farm. Growing boxwood for the garden… it’s a good thing.
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