The Beauty of Better Buxus Hedges

by | Feb 13, 2021 | News | 0 comments

The Better Buxus hedge or box hedge, is a very popular plant for low formal hedges. This is due to their small, glossy leaves and slow growth rate. Their compact growing habit make them very easy to shape and maintain, for low maintenance gardens. They are well-known for their durability, usually reaching a final height of between 0.5 – 1.5 metres.

These Buxus varieties have been intensively bred to be resistant against fungal diseases, such as Calonectria. The advantage to this is that fungicides are no longer required to keep these plants healthy.

 

Growth and Appearance

The Buxus Heritage is a hybrid that is very similar to the well-known sempervirens, but this hybrid grows a bit more compact. Much more like a Buxus Suffruiticosa. Its stunning dark green leaves stay that way all year round. This hedge is perfectly suitable for universal use and is easy to prune.

It would be expected that this hedge would grow similarly to the Buxus sempervirens. Approximately 6-9 inches a year under reasonable growing conditions.

The Buxus Renaissance is a low-growing Buxus, which also has beautiful dark green leaves all year round. The good news for gardeners is that due to its slow growth it will likely only require pruning once per year.

It is also suitable for training into topiary shapes for those looking to add a bit more interest to their garden space.

 

Growing Conditions

Fortunately, the Better Buxus is suitable for growing in all soil types. Including thin chalky soils.

More good news for gardeners with more north facing gardens, it can be grown in semi shade.

We would recommend feeding this hedge in April, Mid-June and August to maintain it’s healthy green appearance. Using a Seaweed based fertiliser will help to give all the trace elements that box require.

 

Maintenance

When it comes to trimming and maintaining your Better Buxus, only one trim is needed and this should ideally be around the middle of June after the first flush of growth. Be sure to use sharp shears to give your hedge the very best finish.

Tidying up the trimmings afterwards will help prevent disease as well as improve the overall appearance of the hedge.

 

Keep Your Eyes Peeled

While we cannot currently offer this new product as our instant hedging, it is available to purchase as individual pots. For a metre of hedging, you will require 7 individual plants. We have made sure to keep the pricing in line with what it would be for a metre long instant hedge.

Keep your eyes on our website for when this will be available in the Readyhedge bags and troughs.

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