Final Resting Place
If you’ve been reading here for long, you know about my love of boxwood hedges. If you’ve been reading here since I moved from Ohio, you’ll know I planted a box hedge in Ohio the year before we moved. You’ll also know that the new owners of our home didn’t want the hedge and I brought it with me. They were moved in December of 2012, planted in my main vegetable garden here in Maine, then they were moved the following spring to a nursery area where they have been patiently waiting.
This week I’ve been moving to their new location, their final location where they can finally rest peacefully. They won’t all go in this space, I now have twenty shrubs, each about two feet around (both in width and height). I’m debating on placement for the remainder, I may be able to move them yet this fall if the weather continues to cooperate. These are the variety ‘Wintergreen’.
I planted the boxwood 34 inches apart and 26 inches in from the garden edge. At the moment, I’m thinking I want to prune into loose balls that are about three feet around in all directions. They will barely touch and should provide a semi formal hedge, not the crisp angular edge of a square hedge. I may or may not keep this look when it’s mature, if I decide I want a clipped hedge, I’ll simply root cuttings between these plants to fill in the gaps.
On the end of the hedge there’s a ‘Green Mountain’ boxwood that will be allowed to grow taller, in more of an oval shape to form an end cap to the hedge. I have already tied it up for winter because it was a little misshapen from the 12 feet of snow we got last winter.
The garden area behind this new hedge is a new space, it was grass last season. It has wonderful southern exposure and it fairly hot during the summer. I’m thinking of planting hardy figs against the rock wall and filling the remainder of the bed with masses of globe alliums and ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint, this photo from Pinterest is what gave me the idea. I’ll propagate the catmint this coming spring and buy the alliums next fall, the following year should be garden perfection!
Have you ever taken plants with you when you moved?
Susy, I haven’t taken plants with me when I’ve moved. Many of the plants where I live have been given to me. The rest are annuals which need planting every year. My garden hedges are Rugosa Rose bushes that are not groomed. I too am in process of filling in the gaps and moving bushes that decided to grow in the wrong places. Bush and hedge grooming is a long term practice.
Have a great boxwood hedge day.
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