The evergreen every formal garden is built from. Boxwoods clip into crisp hedges, edges, and topiary and hold that shape year-round, the quiet green architecture behind centuries of garden design.
A seldom-offered evergreen, Buxus balearica is the bold-leaved boxwood: an upright shrub or small tree related to the common boxwood, Buxus sempervirens, but with noticeably larger, glossier leaves. Less cold-hardy than the common box, the Balearic boxwood is a fine choice for warmer gardens, where the big evergreen leaves give a lush, polished presence.
A small boxwood with narrow, bright green leaves and an unusually showy spring bloom, this is apparently the true Buxus harlandii. The boxwoods commonly sold in the South as B. harlandii, including the variety 'Richard', are, according to Dr. Todd Lasseigne, another Asian species, Buxus bodinieri; the real harlandii is much less often seen.
A twisting, weeping take on the classic boxwood, Buxus sempervirens 'Unraveled' breaks the upright, clipped mold of the genus entirely. The branches arch and twist into a loose, cascading, almost sculptural form, dense with the familiar small evergreen leaves but carried on a frame that drapes rather than stands. A selection from the JC Raulston Arboretum, 'Unraveled' brings a wild, playful edge to a plant usually grown for rigid formality.
