Common Boxwood

Partial sun or shade. Evergreen. With their tiny evergreen leaves and their ability to regrow thickly after pruning, boxwoods have long been favored when a sheared hedge is desired. On its own boxwood can grow up to 18 feet, but it’s rarely left alone for long enough to achieve it.

In South Texas, boxwood is commonly maintained as a foundation hedge. Keeping a tidy hedge shape requires constant maintenance during the growing season. Over-hedging over many years can create a thin outer shell of dense leaves, with a buildup of dead wood in the dark, empty interior; selective renewal pruning can help restore light and growth.

There are many cultivars, so check your variety carefully and make sure it’s appropriate for your site. Boxwood blight is an incurable fungal disease that ravages this species in Europe, New Zealand and the eastern U.S.. As of 2013, it had not yet been recorded in Texas.