Box

Box (Buxus) - This beautiful bush grows wild on some of our southern chalk hills, and is much cultivated in gardens as an edging, and also in shrubberies. The beauty of its habit is seldom seen in gardens, owing to being too much crowded, but seen wild its habit is most graceful, and it might be well to secure the same beauty of habit by planting in groups upon exposed knolls. Almost all the species and varieties have variegated forms, which, though pretty, are not so good as the natural forms. B. sempervirens (the Common Box) from its close bushy habit is one of the most useful Evergreens for garden hedges. It may be pruned or clipped into any shape. While there are few soils in which it will not thrive, it prefers such as are light, with a warm gravelly subsoil. Among the species is Japonica, a dwarf form, but hardier. The Minorca Box (B. balearica) is a native of islands in the Mediterranean, as well as Italy and Turkey, where it forms a fine tree of from 60 to 80 feet in height. The leaves are larger than those of the Common Box, and when exposed to the sun are of a lighter green, but it only succeeds well in warm, well-sheltered situations, with a dry soil and a warm subsoil. Other species are Harlandi, microphylla, and Wallichiana, but few of these so precious as the Common Box. The variegated forms are never so good as the green.