How to shape boxwood - Abecedazahrady.cz

Boxwood is probably the most common shrub used both for the creation of hedges and especially for shaping (in which case it is usually grown as a solitaire).

You have never seen a trimmed boxwood!

Few gardener can resist this lure. Armed with scissors, he turns into a sculptor in front of a boxwood shrub to imprint his vision into the living green matter. There are no limits to imagination.

Read more about the decorative shaping of trees and shrubs

Dense shrubs acquire geometric and abstract shapes or take on the form of animal and human figures or various objects. You can also shape dwarf species, but in that case, focus on bonsai instead of garden sculptures.

Always think carefully about whether the shape of the shrub will fit the style of your garden

Principles of editing

Just as an amateur barber can turn a rich bar into a jagged, grinded thing that can only be done with a razor, pruning shears that are too vibrating can cause the same damage to boxwood or other shaped trees or shrubs.

So how do you make the right cut to get the desired result? Just follow a few proven tricks:

1. In addition to dexterous hands and imagination, you will need suitable tools. If you pay more attention to shaping, it pays to buy special scissors, which are used for finer cutting; above all, they shape young plants and more complex shapes.

2. For trimming hedges and adjusting larger shrubs into simpler shapes, such as pyramids, you can use classic hedge trimmers.

You can explore the magnificent boxwood hedges especially during trips around the castle gardens

3. The main principle is to use only sharp, well-sharpened scissors. Otherwise, you will crush the twigs and leaves rather than prune them, which will not be nice to look at and the bushes will not do well either.

4. Look at the shrub and think about what could be cut out of its mass or whether its shape no longer suggests how to proceed. If you have more shrubs, their arrangement should have a uniform character and match the style of the garden. Now you are not competing for the most original snowman, but you are adding expression to the garden.

5. If you are just starting to prune shrubs, choose simple ideas with a shape that will make it easier for you to practice your art and gain skill.

Sphere shape: simple, but the most impressive

6. More complex shapes that mimic characters or objects stand out best and also retain their appearance the longest when you bet on a simpler silhouette that marks the basic features of the animal or object. The more complex the boxwood sculptures, the more time you will have to devote to their constant maintenance.

7. Cut or trim from top to bottom and from center to sides.

8. Do not strike the bush sharply, but prune in smaller parts and gradually over the entire area.

Boxwood grows very slowly, so small shrubs are quite expensive

9. Easier to keep the shape with a wire template, which you plant in the ground through a young, still low shrub. You can use it both in the garden and in the appropriate size and container. You will cut the twigs a few inches above the stencil so that the shaped shrub will gradually hide it.

10. Once you have the green sculpture ready, all you need is a maintenance cut. If the shape of the boxwood is still perfect, you need to prune new shoots about once every three weeks during the growing season, which runs from June to the end of August.

11. The undeniable advantage of living sculptural material is that if the creation fails, all you have to do is let the bush be painted with new green matter and you can start the piece again. It will be the same when the shape looks at you. You simply let it grow and you cut out something brand new.

He proceeds carefully when cutting; one gets easily carried away and then can regret it

Buxus, an inconspicuous usurpator

If you are more a fan of natural gardens and you like the violent restriction of plant growth, you can easily trim your solitary boxwoods and those in hedges where their branches would interfere with the paths or block other plants in the light.

The bushes grow in width over the years and their compact mass slowly but surely literally pushes out and suffocates the neighbors. Therefore, if you want to let them grow without restriction, leave plenty of space between them and other plants.

To make something cut

In order for the cutting instructions to be valid for you, the boxwood shrub must first be of sufficient size and density. It must also have healthy, non-dry leaves. Surely you already know where I'm going. Yes, it will be about care, without which it will not work even with such an undemanding plant as boxwood.

Reproduce it yourself and don't forget to transplant small shrubs grown in pots regularly so that they have enough space.

Art that takes time

Take advantage of it

Use longer pruned twigs for decoration: depending on the seasons, you can add them to arrangements of live or dried plants. In water, the boxwood lasts a very long time green, and when it dries, it has a beautiful golden color, which gives the dry weave a festive touch.

Watch out for him!

Boxwood is very poisonous, so prevent children and animals from tearing it, or even consuming it. Do not put it in the bedroom during the decoration, because it gives off a rather unpleasant odor in the green state.