Though we should know better, we still love box despite the risky reputation it has gained in the 21st century. A historical lynchpin through the ages of gardening, box has been valued by Romans, Elizabethans, the various Louis’ at Versailles and the creatives behind the Arts and Crafts movement.
For more photos, see Boxwood in our Gardenista Gallery.
Photograph by Kendra Wilson.
Some head gardeners continue to work with schemes that appear to depend on box, spraying with chemical fungicide every few weeks during the growing season.
In a townhouse garden in Brooklyn, Susan Welti of Foras Studio chose plants that would stand up to heat, including boxwood clipped into balls, Solomon’s seal, Russian sage, Mexican feather grass, and hydrangeas.
Photograph courtesy of Foras Studio.
Photograph via Okatsune.
Photography by Nicola Browne and Dan Pearson Studio.
A looser topiarized look is no bad thing, as with the boxwood hedges at Dan Pearson’s Old Rectory.
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Photograph by Nicole Franzen for Gardenista.
N.B. : For more landscaping ideas, explore our Garden Design 101 guides.