Is there a difference between Japanese boxwood and European boxwood?
These two names in fact refer to the same plant, but their usage creates a lot of confusion. This plant is much more resistant to cold than both the Japanese and European boxwood, and it will stay green and healthy all the way down to minus 20 or 25 degrees Fahrenheit. One particular variety we prefer is the ‘Winter Gem‘.
What is an English boxwood?
English boxwood is found in a variety of posh areas including the colonial gardens of Williamsburg, Virginia, and even at the White House. The shrub is admired for its lovely thickly packed, light-green leaves which grow in a round form.
What does a Korean boxwood look like?
Like many other boxwoods, they are a highly dense plant, covered with evergreen leaves. Korean boxwoods are visually striking as in summers as the leaves exhibit rich dark green color. During winters, the leaves tend to become more bronze in shade. In spring, the shrub starts to produce scented, cream-toned blossoms that are pollinated by bees.
How to grow and care for Japanese boxwoods?
For the healthy growth of Japanese boxwoods, it is crucial to ensure that the soil is well-drained with acidic pH level. When the soil is wet, the foliage boasts a pungent scent which is quite prominent. The plant is easy to grow in both semi-shade and no shade at all; what’s important is that the soil must be moist.
How do you identify English boxwoods?
English boxwood is rounded, and the overall shape of the plant is similar to a cloud. English boxwood is an evergreen and blooms during the spring. American boxwood, also known as common boxwood, is a small tree that grows to 10 feet in height, although some older plants can grow up to 20 feet.
Which type of boxwood is best?
Asian boxwood The first is Japanese Boxwood, Buxus microphylla, which is usually available in dwarf forms, growing slowly to just a few feet in height. It is also known as littleleaf boxwood, and it is the most reliable form for hot areas, growing well in zones 9 and 10, although it is also hardy to zone 6.
What is the most popular boxwood?
15 Boxwood Types (The Most Popular Ones)Small Leaved Cultivars (Buxus microphylla) Grace Hendrick Phillips. Compacta. ... Japanese Cultivars (Buxus microphylla var. Japonica) Green Beauty. ... Korean Cultivars (Buxus sinica var. insularis) Nana. ... Common Cultivars (Buxus sempervirens) American Cultivar. ... Hybrid Cultivars. Glencoe.
How big do Japanese boxwoods get?
Japanese boxwoods look very similar to Korean boxwoods (Buxus sinica), and both are extremely popular because they are fast growing and can tolerate heavy frosts much better than English and American ones. They also are more compact and can grow to about 8 feet tall and about 6 feet wide.
What is the hardiest boxwood?
Littleleaf box (Buxus micro- phylla) and its botanical variety, the Japanese box (Buxus microphylla var. sinica var. insularis are considered the hardiest of all boxwood.
What is the fastest growing boxwood?
The Sprinter boxwood is a fast-growing evergreen shrub that requires little care. It provides year-round color and can be used as a low hedge or along garden beds. It features glossy, green leaves and is cold tolerant.
Which boxwoods stay green all year?
Dee Runk Boxwood is one of our most popular boxwood shrubs, reaching heights around 9 feet tall. The evergreen shrub is known for its columnar habit and dark green foliage that keeps its color throughout the year.
What type of boxwood stays small?
Small-Leaved Boxwood The 'Compacta' cultivar, also sometimes called 'Kingsville Dwarf,' is the smallest boxwood variety. It grows very slowly, adding about 1/2 inch in height each year, and reaches a mature height of about a foot. Its leaves, at 1/2 inch long, are exceptionally small, too.
Which boxwood stays green in winter?
WintergreenSome boxwoods that are prized for retaining their green color throughout most winters are 'Wintergreen', 'Green Velvet', 'Green Mountain', and 'Glencoe'.
How can you tell a Japanese boxwood?
Most boxwood shrubs are characterized by having small, oval, or lanceolate leathery green leaves. Leaf shape and color are also ways to identify specific boxwood cultivars apart. For example, Japanese boxwoods have tiny oval leaves, whereas American boxwood has leathery lanceolate leaves measuring 1.5” (4 cm) long.
What does a Japanese boxwood look like?
Japanese Boxwoods grow to be anywhere from 4 to 8 feet tall. Boxwood foliage grows with many small, oval leaves lining small grey-brown twigs. You can tell them apart from other Boxwood varieties as their leaves are slightly larger and a brighter green. The leaves are leathery and have no change in Fall or Winter.
Can Japanese boxwood be kept small?
Japanese boxwood is a good hedge plant, especially for a low-maintenance shrub with year-round curb appeal. Japanese boxwood plants tend to be more hardy and disease resistant than common boxwood. These plants should only be used for small-medium-height hedges, usually in the range of 18″ to 3 feet tall.
How tall do Korean boxwoods get?
Botanically named Buxus Sinica Insularis, Korean boxwoods are a broadleaf evergreen plant which grows upright for about 2 feet tall. As they mature, the shrub tends to become wider in shape rather than taller and produce an open-branch structure. Like many other boxwoods, they are a highly dense plant, covered with evergreen leaves.
What is boxwood shrub?
Gardens and Landscaping / Shrubs. Learn more about the most popular landscaping bush and discover the different types of boxwood that you can incorporate into your formal or informal garden for that wow factor. Also known as box or Buxus, boxwood (buxus sempervirens) is one of the most popular genuses in the Buxaceae family which comprises 70 ...
What is the best thing about green beauty boxwood?
The best trait about green beauty boxwood is that it maintains its dark green foliage throughout the hot months of summer. As compared to other boxwoods, green beauty boxwoods are more humidity and drought tolerant. This evergreen hedge requires partial to full sun for healthy growth.
Why is it important to plant Korean boxwoods?
It is important to choose a place that gets partial sunlight and have wet, loamy soils. The evergreen foliage may need protection against desiccation – the absence of moisture during winters. Hence it is important to cultivate Korean boxwoods where they can be protected against chilling winter winds.
How tall does American boxwood grow?
Also known as common boxwood, American boxwood can grow up to 10 feet in height; some of them can grow up to 20 feet as well.
Why is my boxwood turning yellow?
It is also important to address the common problem that English boxwood usually faces – “winter bronzing” This is the result of a change in green foliage to reddish-brown to ultimately yellow color due to the drying effect of sun and wind over the plant.
Where is boxwood native?
This evergreen shrub is native to several regions including southwest, southern and eastern Asia, western and southern Europe, northern South America, Central America, Madagascar, Mexico, Africa, ...
What is a boxwood shrub?
By Teresa Odle. Boxwoods (Buxus) are popular shrubs partly because they are so versatile in shape, size, leaf qualities and the list goes on. Boxwood varieties are perfect shrubs for forming hedges or showing off your pruning skills or even topiary skills on a single plant. Because they are evergreen, boxwoods make your garden look alive even ...
How tall does a boxwood tree grow?
It is hardy down to zone 6 and a slow grower to a mature height of four feet. American Boxwoods (B. sempervirens) , often called Common Boxwood, is a perfect all-around group of plants that continue growing for up to 100 years.
What is the shape of Jensen boxwood?
Jensen is another American boxwood but has a rounded shape that resembles some English boxwood varieties. Shape Jensen into a low hedge or foundation plant. Elegantissima has creamy white edges around its green foliage and does best with afternoon shade in zones 6 through 8.
How tall does North Star Boxwood grow?
Dwarf varieties also make stunning container centerpieces, and are easy to shape. North Star Boxwood grows to only 2 or 2.5 feet tall and wide in sun or shade in zones 5 though 9.
Is boxwood salt tolerant?
Wedding Ring boxwood also is salt tolerant, so you can plant it near sidewalks or driveways. Green Pillow is a dense and compact variety that grows to just over a foot in height and 3 feet across in zones 5 through 8.
Is Japanese boxwood hardy?
Most Japanese boxwoods are hardy in partial sun in zones 6 through 9. Japanese boxwood has a good growth rate. Wintergreen boxwood can take partial to full sun and grows in zones 4 through 9 and grows more quickly than many classic English boxwoods. Its leaves can turn a light bronze in winter sun.
How tall does Japanese Boxwood grow?
Growth Potential. The Japanese Boxwood is a compact and dense shrub that will grow to about eight feet tall and spread about six feet. The Common Boxwood also has dense growth, but can grow into a small tree, and can be up to 30 feet tall.
What type of soil does Japanese Boxwood need?
Soil Requirements. The Japanese Boxwood thrives in alkaline soils. The Common Boxwood requires a rich, slightly acidic soil. The roots of the Japanese Boxwood go deeper than those of the Common Boxwood, which are often so shallow that they break the surface.
Why should I wear gloves when pruning Japanese boxwood?
Gardeners with sensitive skin should always wear gloves when pruning the Japanese Boxwood because the leaves contain steroidal alkaloids and exposure to the sap from the leaves or stems can cause skin irritation.
Why are my boxwood leaves turning brown?
Both plants are evergreen, but the Common Boxwood is more affected by cold winds and the leaves can turn brown after exposure to a dry cold wind. In severe cases the leaves may fall and replacements will be slow to appear. This could adversely affect the shape of the shrub.
Can boxwoods be cut?
Boxwoods make excellent hedging plants, as they grow densely and can be cut to just about any shape. Both shrubs can be trained into particular growth patterns and can be trimmed regularly to maintain the shape. This makes them ideal for topiary work.
Is Japanese Boxwood good for shade?
This makes them ideal for topiary work. The Japanese Boxwood can cope well with light shade, but the Common Boxwood better copes with heavy shade, which makes it an ideal shrub for darker corners of a garden where little else will flourish.
Can Japanese Boxwood take full sun?
Japanese Boxwood (Buxus Microphylla var. Japonica) can cope with heavy frosts and is also able to take full sun. This gives it a distinct advantage over Common Boxwood (Buxus Sempervirans), which can suffer in freezing weather and full sun.
Height and Spread
Height is a significant gap between the Japanese boxwood and Korean boxwood variety “Wintergreen.” The Japanese boxwood, based on the variety, will grow from 3 to 12 feet tall when left alone, while the shorter, dense “Wintergreen” boxwood will grow 2 to 4 feet tall.
Growing Requirements
As with other boxwoods, both the Korean “Wintergreen” and Japanese varieties thrive in average, well-drained soils that maintain a medium humidity degree. Their shallow root systems can easily be damaged by cultivating too tightly, so don’t plant smaller plants near the main system.
Primary Uses
Both these boxwood types are hardy to both pruning and shearing, which makes them excellent choices for a drop. The “Wintergreen” Korean boxwood makes a nice, 2- to 4-foot-tall hedge and you will rarely see them taller than that.
How tall does boxwood grow?
Perhaps because it was brought to America as long ago as 1653, it is often called American boxwood. This shrub can grow to 10 feet tall, and is a great choice for a taller hedge, or for taller clipped specimens. The English boxwood is a dwarf variety of the same species, Buxus sempervirens‘Suffruticosa’.
How tall is European boxwood?
It is the perfect choice for a low hedge, 8 to 18 inches tall, that could edge flower beds or pathways. It can also be clipped into small globes. The problem with European boxwood is that it is not especially resistant to either cold or heat, so it grows best in zones 6 to 8.
What kind of boxwood is used in gardens?
Choosing the right plant is easy, once you know a little about the main types. American and English boxwood. There are two main kinds of boxwood used in gardens, as well as hybrids between these two main plants. The first and probably most important is the European boxwood, Buxus sempervirens.
What is boxwood used for?
It has endless uses around the garden, but it is especially useful for making geometric shapes and hedges, as it thrives on regular trimming. It can be clipped into balls, cones, cubes and a whole host of shapes to decorate your garden. These add interest and structure to the garden, giving the eye firm shapes to hold onto in the chaos irregularity often seen in disorganized gardens. Using hedges of all sizes to create simple geometry, such as squares and circles, on the ground, has the same effect on the anarchy of plants as a frame does around a Jackson Pollock painting. It brings control and restraint, and shows the human hand in the garden.
What is the best boxwood for hot areas?
The first is Japanese Boxwood, Buxus microphylla, which is usually available in dwarf forms, growing slowly to just a few feet in height. It is also known as littleleaf boxwood, and it is the most reliable form for hot areas, growing well in zones 9 and 10, although it is also hardy to zone 6.
What is the second Asian species?
The second Asian species of importance is the Korean, or Chinese boxwood. Today it is correctly known as Buxus sinicavar. insularis, but in older material it is often listed as Buxus microphyllavar. koreana. These two names in fact refer to the same plant, but their usage creates a lot of confusion.
What tree can you use to make bonsai?
Another idea could be an olive tree, which also trims well and develops a good trunk. It is used a lot for giant ‘bonsai’ in Spain and Italy. You can use stakes to arrange the trunk of trees like this exactly as you want it. April 12, 2020by Cynthia Thomas .
How tall does Japanese boxwood grow?
Japanese boxwood, on the other hand, grows as a shrub, from 1- to 12-feet tall depending on the species, with insignificant flowers in April and May.
What is the difference between Japanese boxwood and wintergreen?
Growing in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 8, wintergreen is a low-maintenance plant, while Japanese boxwood, which grows in USDA zones 3 through 9 depending on the cultivar, can be a bit finicky plant to grow.
Why are my boxwood leaves turning brown?
Boxwood leaves stay green all year but sometimes are scorched and turn brown if the plant gets too much sun in either summer or winter. Get the Best Mortgage Rate for You | SmartAsset.com. Loading.
Can boxwood be a pest?
It can get infestations from aphids or thrips that you can wash away with a spray from the hose, and it will suffer from mildew and leaf spot if humidity levels rise from evening watering or soil that is too damp. Like wintergreen, boxwood doesn’t have significant pest or disease problems.
How tall does Korean boxwood grow?
The evergreen Korean boxwood is a dense shrub that grows 3 to 4 feet tall with distinctive square green stems on leaves that turn yellowish-green in the winter. The fast-growing B. microphyllia koreana “Sunnyside” grows up to 6 feet wide and high. The bright green leaves of “Wintergreen” do not lose their color in the winter. “Wintergreen” grows 2 to 3 feet tall. “Winter Beauty” grows in a rounded shape with leaves that turn bronze in the winter; the similar “Winter Gem” grows up to 4 feet high.
What are the hybrids of boxwoods?
Hybrids of taller European boxwoods and smaller Japanese boxwoods are botanically called B. microphylla var. koreana x B. sempervirens followed by the name of the cultivar in quotation marks. These hybrids are typically shorter than European boxwood and will survive harsh winters better than Japanese boxwoods. “Clencoe” retains its color in the winter and grows 2 to 3 feet tall. The smaller “Green Gem” also maintains its color in the winter and grows up to 2 feet tall. The foliage of “Green Mountain” turns bronze in the winter. The mounded “Green Mound” boxwood grows up to 3 feet tall, while the rounded “Green Velvet” grows up to 4 feet tall.
What is a Japanese garden?
Japanese gardens are based on the idea of re-creating in miniature a calming, contemplative walk through a natural landscape -- around a pond, along a stream, or through a meadow or forest. Purists insist that an authentic Japanese garden should contain boxwood species native to Asia (Buxus macrophylla), while others say that European boxwood species (Buxus sempervirens), native to Europe and North Africa, are also acceptable in some circumstances. Boxwoods will grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 9.
Is Japanese boxwood bigger than European boxwood?
Varieties of European boxwood, sometimes called common boxwood, are larger than the Japanese boxwood varieties. Their leaves are broad at the base and taper to a point. Smaller Japanese boxwoods, often known as little leaf boxwood, are more appropriate for the confined space of a Japanese garden. Their rounded leaves are wide at the center. The species of Japanese boxwood most gardeners use in Japanese gardens are cultivars of Korean boxwood (B. microphylla Koreana).
Japanese Holly vs Boxwoods
Hope this isn't too basic a question for this forum, but I am having a hard time telling the difference between Japanese hollies and some boxwoods. They both seem to have the same size/shape leaf and petiole, similar color, growth patterns, clippable. So I am foxed.
Comments (2)
Katy, I note that you have recently moved to the south. As a northener you have an interesting learning curve ahead. To answer your question....Boxwood has an opposite leaf pattern and all hollies have alternating leaf patterns. Also, in the heat of day you will notice a distinctive foxy or cat urine odor eminating from the boxwood.
Weather Tolerance
Growth Potential
- The Japanese Boxwood is a compact and dense shrub that will grow to about eight feet tall and spread about six feet. The Common Boxwood also has dense growth, but can grow into a small tree, and can be up to 30 feet tall. It is unusual to see Common Boxwoods as tall as that in gardens, but this capability is often used to produce irregular profiles in hedges. Generally, neith…
Soil Requirements
- The Japanese Boxwood thrives in alkaline soils. The Common Boxwood requires a rich, slightly acidic soil. The roots of the Japanese Boxwood go deeper than those of the Common Boxwood, which are often so shallow that they break the surface. In warm weather, the Common Boxwood needs to be watered regularly and benefits from a layer of mulch over the roots to help keep the…
Flowering
- Both Boxwoods produce tiny whitish flowers and small fruit. The flowers and fruit are of little value because neither Boxwood grows quickly from seed.
Evergreen
- Both plants are evergreen, but the Common Boxwood is more affected by cold winds and the leaves can turn brown after exposure to a dry cold wind. In severe cases the leaves may fall and replacements will be slow to appear. This could adversely affect the shape of the shrub.
Uses
- Boxwoods make excellent hedging plants, as they grow densely and can be cut to just about any shape. Both shrubs can be trained into particular growth patterns and can be trimmed regularly to maintain the shape. This makes them ideal for topiary work. The Japanese Boxwood can cope well with light shade, but the Common Boxwood better copes with heavy shade, which makes it …
Problems
- Neither shrub has particular problems from a gardening point of view. Both will establish themselves well, and will produce a very attractive hedge or garden highlight throughout the winter. Gardeners with sensitive skin should always wear gloves when pruning the Japanese Boxwood because the leaves contain steroidal alkaloids and exposure to the sap from the leave…
Tip
- Expert gardening advisor Karen Thurber adds, "There are many cultivar and varieties of Boxwood. Some plants will only grow as tall as four feet over 50 years, while others may have a slightly different color, or be better suited for cold climates. Do some research before buying, to select the correct plant for your location."