Box Hedging – injecting some style

I’ve used Box Hedging (Buxus Sempervirens) to turn an impromptu, scruffy bed into one which looks much sharper.

However, I have to confess that when I first started using Box, I only planned to use it in the form of Box balls, not hedging. I wanted to use a few Box balls in my beds to create a bit of structure.

I favour quite a naturalistic planting style, which can end up looking wild if I’m not careful. The Box balls which I’ve used in my beds give the eye something structured to focus on, making the beds look more designed.

A Complete Balls Up!

And there my Box usage would have ended, if it hadn’t been for utter stupidity on my part! Let me explain…

You may have seen my blog about screening a cricket net in my garden. Well, my original plan was actually to plant three little box balls at the base of each of five trees I was using to screen the net. I also planned to have a further three box balls sitting in the foreground of the middle tree. So I gamely ordered what I thought were 18 Box balls.

I have to say that at the time of ordering I thought the price was a bargain. It didn’t take long to realise why. When the plants arrived, along with the trees I realised, to my horror, I’d ordered 18 Box hedging plants! They weren’t remotely ball shaped and weren’t likely to be any time soon! I don’t have the skill or patience to gradually shape these plants into Box balls and so abandoned that idea. I finished the cricket net scheme without them.

That left me with 18 Box hedging plants!

What to do with the Box Hedging?

Sadly, it’s not the kind of thing people are going to impromptuly take off your hands! No one is looking at their garden thinking ‘what that little gap needs is 18 Box hedging plants.’ And I certainly couldn’t dot them around my garden.

So I was a bit stuck. Until I got some great advice from my neighbour, Desi, who’s a professional gardener. She suggested I use the Box hedging to edge a bed.

Most of my beds have quite long permiters so I was doubtful. Also I wasn’t sure formal Box hedging fits with the gardening ‘look’ I’m going for.

Transforming A Non-Descript Bed

However I had a think. A couple of my beds are much smaller. Indeed one is not much of a bed at all. It’s a little patch of area in front of Mr F-W’s favourtite (and very ugly) shed.

I created the bed on a whim one day, to distract the eye from the shed. It’s a sunny spot. I simply dug into the grass in front of the shed, carving out a small flower bed. I planted it up with some lovely plants but the whole thing looked a bit unplanned. It was!

Anyway, with Desi’s suggestion ringing in my ears, I measured this non-event of a bed. I worked out that if I made it a proper oblong shape, the Box hedging plants could work around its perimeter.

How to Plant

So I planted them. For this idea to work, they needed to be planted extremely straight. So I used a string to form the guide and as recommended by the experts, dug a trench rather than individual holes.

The trench was wider but no deeper than the plants. Apparently you should never plant Box deeper than the level it’s at in its pot. I found you could assess the right depth quite easily, as you can see the soil mark on the Box’s stems.

In terms of spacing, for a good effect you need to plant them closely – at 20cm intervals. I did all this, watering them in their pots well before planting them out and giving them a really good drink after planting too.

Trimming

I didn’t attempt to trim the hedge into a formal shape for its first year. I just let the Box hedging plants grow and settle in. Now I trim them once a year, in May/June. I may give the hedge a further tiny tidy in Autumn but that’s it.

I wondered how I’d get on with this part of the process. I’d seen Monty Don on an episode of Gardener’s World, putting up a set of string guides to follow. I didn’t trust myself to do that very accurately – or patiently – each and every year! Thankfully, Mr F-W had a brainwave.

He has created a fantastic frame which mirrors the size of hedge I want to have. I simply put this over the top of the Box hedge. I then use sharp shears to trim anything that’s protruding outside the structure. It’s absolute genius!

The Planting

The planting I have in the bed really compliments the formality of the Box. It includes a drift of 5 Salvia nemerosa Caradonna and one of my all time favourite English shrub roses Boscobel. It’s scent is gorgeous. The coral pink of the rose and the vibrant purple of the salvia are just stunning together. I’ve another pinky-white shrub rose planted in there too – but can’t recall which one yet. Sorry, it will come back to me! At the base of the roses I’ve planted Geranium Macrorrhizum ‘spessart‘  The Box hides the geranium from a distance, but when you are up close it’s a wonderful additional surprise.

The overall effect is a bed brimming with plants. It’s still quite a jumble, but I like that planting style. Without the Box hedging it would be an absolute hotchpotch – but with the hedging it’s transformed.

What was a hastily contructed flower bed, now looks much sharper. It looks like it’s meant to be.

Help me name this clematis

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that there’s also a purple clematis in this bed. Here’s a better picture of it. I must have planted it years ago before the bed existed. Well it has suddenly started growing. I have no idea what it is. If you do, please tell me, and I’ll update the blog with its detail.