2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Boxwood is one of the varieties of incredibly spectacular slow-growing trees and shrubs. Most often, this evergreen beauty can be seen in the Mediterranean countries, as well as in the West Indies and in East Asia, but some especially daring summer residents are not even averse to trying to grow boxwood on their plots. Is it easy to do, and what are the main nuances of growing this incomparable representative of the vast and diverse world of flora?
What is the purpose of planting boxwood?
In areas suitable for full-fledged growth of boxwood, this plant is either decorated with lawns or gardens, or used as a picturesque hedge. And in everyday life, wonderful bonsai are often made from it - it grows excellently in pots, it bushes wonderfully, and its cute little leaves never cease to please the eye.
Designers are very willing to use boxwood for original landscape design - this is largely due to its spectacular shining leaves, graceful crowns and the ability to perfectly tolerate cuttings. And also boxwood is very shade-tolerant and very unpretentious!
What does boxwood look like?
Boxwood is endowed with opposite, whole-edged, almost round or elliptical leaves. Its small unisexual flowers fold into attractive lateral inflorescences and boast a surprisingly pleasant aroma, and the fruits of this plant, divided into three oval cells, spray dark shiny grains in the wind during their ripening.
Despite the fact that boxwood is a melliferous plant, its honey is not eaten under any circumstances - all parts of the plant contain a very impressive concentration of poison.
How to grow?
Experienced gardeners believe that trees that bloom in the spring should ideally be planted in the fall. The same applies to boxwood - if you plant it in the fall, it will take root much better and will give the long-awaited shoots much faster. However, it needs to be planted about a month before the onset of frost - this is important so that it has time to safely take root in the soil before the onset of winter cold weather.
Nevertheless, many gardeners very successfully plant a handsome boxwood in the spring, and some of them dare to do it even in summer. Since these plants react extremely negatively to direct sunlight (the bright sun instantly burns their beautiful leaves), it is best to plant them in shady areas. In this case, the soil must invariably be clayey and moist, with a slight lime content. And about a day before being sent to the ground, the seedlings should be watered abundantly - after they are removed from the pots, as little earth as possible should remain on the roots.
The deepening for planting boxwood should ideally be three times the amount of soil remaining on the roots. At the bottom of the dug holes, a perlite drainage layer up to three centimeters high is laid. Having straightened the roots of the seedlings, they are immediately placed in the pits, after which they are slowly covered with a soil mixture with perlite and watered with clean water. As soon as the soil shrinks slightly, add some more soil. And it will not hurt to fence the plants with a low soil bank - this will avoid excessive spreading of water during watering.
How to care?
If the boxwood was planted correctly, then it will not need special care and attention. With prolonged drought, plants need to be watered abundantly, and this should not be done every day, but approximately once a week. And at the end of each watering, it will not hurt to thoroughly loosen the soil and weed the weeds. In addition, plants must be systematically fertilized with organic matter or minerals.
If the boxwood was planted in the spring, then after about a month it should be fed with peat, and then, when the period of active growth begins, it is necessary to systematically add high-quality complex fertilizers to the soil. In the autumn period, feeding should be distinguished by a sufficiently high content of phosphorus with potassium. As for nitrogen, in the fall and winter, boxwood does well without it.
As practice shows, growing boxwood is not at all difficult, so everyone will definitely cope with it!
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