OPINIONS NEEDED: Landscaping / Boxwood border
Ganny Williams
10 months ago
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
10 months agokitasei2
10 months agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (7)barefoot, thanks for the input. I should have stated that the front landscaping, i.e. boxwoods,spirea,spruce, and mulch have all just been put in within the last 2 weeks. The landscaping isn't done by any means and I intend to add ground cover, flowering perennials and such. But for the moment I am just trying to add one more plant/shrub/tree to the corner of the flower bed where the utility boxes are. I can get a gold mop cypress approx 5'X4' for a minimal cost. I was just worried if it would become too much of a focal point on the end of the garage. We intend to add little princess spirea, origami columbine, sweet flag or boulder blue grasses to the bed as well. I just want to get a large specimen tied in to the corner first. again, thanks for any input you may have....See MoreHelp designing a contemporary landscaped privacy border
Comments (13)Bamboo is a great choice for containers!! And you do not need to restrict yourself to clumpers - running bamboo is easily contained in large tubs. Boxwood would also work but does grow remarkably slowly and would need to be sheared/trimmed to get the very sharp, clean look you seem to favor. Japanese holly is very similar in appearance and grows somewhat faster so that is a possibility as well, especially the cultivar 'Sky Pencil', which may naturally offer the look you like. Other narrow, columnar needled evergreens with a very restrained habit could work also - Cupressus sempervirens 'Tiny Towers', Cupressus macrocarpa 'Wilma Goldcrest', Juniperus communis 'Compressa', etc. If the phormiums are newly planted, you may very well have some hardiness issues. In the PNW it is not necessarily the cold in winter that knocks them back but rather the combination of cold and our typically winter wet soils. They require excellent drainage and/or a coastal location to really thrive in this area....See Morelandscaping help needed for ideas for hydrangeas and boxwood
Comments (4)I wouldn't use H. arborescens or H. macrophylla in a settng with 8 hours of sun since both do best with morning only sun or dappled sun. I'd use some variety of H. paniculata which is the most sun tolerant of the hydrangeas. I am in a much cooler setting than you, but mine do fine in all day sun. I don't know how they would do for you in VA, but none of the other hydrangeas will be happy with 8 hours of sun in your zone. As far as combining boxwoods with hydrangeas, I'd first be sure that you and other family members are fine with the scent of boxwood foliage since you are looking at using them around a deck. Some folks are fine with the scent, but some folks find it extremely rank and unappealing, so wouldn't want it where they will be spending extensive time. If you are fine with it, I'd visit the blog of Deborah Silver, a Detroit area designer who uses both boxwood (and other evergreens) along with hydrangeas. Just type boxwood or hydrangea into the blog's search box and you will get a number of posts that include plantings that use one or both. Most of the gardens she plants are fairly formal, and often she plants rows or hedges of Hydrangeas, often combined with evergreens such as boxwood, yews, or arborvitae. Her most often used H. paniculatas are Limelight and Little Lime, but there are a wide range of varieties that vary in plant height and width as well as in branch stiffness (stiffer branches hold the flower heads more upright) and the shape, size, and density of the flower heads. My favorite is Quickfire, which is about 6' in all directions and has stiff branches that hold the flowers well upright. The flower heads are lacy looking and rounded and bloom for a long time, changing from white through pink to a rich cerise over the course of 4 months. In warmer areas I don't think the flowers last as long. Here are photos of a couple of mine which are planted in informal mixed borders. Quickfire early July. QF mid-August QF color Labor Day until frost - doesn't seem to change or fade for several weeks PinkyWinky color late August; it starts pure white in early August. PW late September PW mid-October If you do a search here on the GW hydrangea forum (type paniculata into the search box and then click on the option that pops up to search in Hydrangeas) a good number of discussions will pop up about the various types Hydrangea paniculata, many of which include photos....See Morelandscaper ruined my boxwood
Comments (16)Your planting beds are not big enough for more than the boxwood orbs. Some patience to let them grow back is your best option. That means you have to put down the hedge trimmer, step away from the boxwood and let them get fuzzy for a bit. Can you do that? The Mushroom Cloud will shade out and kill the foliage below so that means the bottom green parts are really going to have to get quite fuzzy and droop down to reform your balls so they touch the ground. Can you handle that amount of fuzzy? In the mean time to encourage some patience we can spruce things up to distract from the Bonsai Bushes of Doom. Let's start by freshening the mulch. I would recommend the red dyed mulch. That really grabs your attention. Then add in some annual, big yellow marigolds to help hide the growing fuzzy bottoms. That bold splash of color should do the trick while your balls grow back. It would be really good if you repeated the red dyed mulch and big yellow annual marigolds in the left side bed of sheered shrubbery between the drive and front entry for maximum impact....See Morekitasei2
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