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Boxes: planting and pruning
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Box is very easy to please, having no particular needs in the way of soil or location. It likes the sun as well as the shade, but the leaves will colour slightly darker in the shade. It does better in loose, limy soil.
Planting
Place the roots of the box in a bucket of water for an hour. Loosen the soil, add lime, especially if your soil is acidic, and some bonemeal. Dig a comfortable sized planting hole, big enough for you to spread the roots. Place the plant into the hole and firm in the soil using your foot. This ensures that the roots make contact with the soil, giving the plant a good start.
Planting a hedge
For a hedge, plant 6 or 7 box plants per metre, making sure that you space them equally. Set sticks in the ground with string stretched between them to ensure that the hedge line will be straight. For a symmetrical curve pattern it is best to make a template out of cardboard or wood to plant your hedge along. As you must end up with a plant on each corner, you might have to cheat a bit with the space between the plants. For long, straight or curved stretches, you will get the best effect when you use the same variety of box although you could try using a different variety or shape at the corners. Water the plants in well as soon as you have planted them and keep watering regularly during the first few weeks.
Pruning
As soon as the hedge is settled in, even though the plants are still very small, it is important to cut them back to keep them to the same size. Check that the hedge top is level by using sticks and string or a long slat, double checked against a spirit level. Use a well-sharpened pair of hedge shears resting on the string or slat and keep horizontal. After the top is done, you can do the sides just by eye, using the shears vertically.
A box hedge should be cut twice a year, especially the sides, to keep the hedge nice and thick. This will also prevent the bottom from becoming bare. Keep the top of the hedge slightly narrower than the bottom, to create the optimum cake-like shape.
Pruning creative shapes
You can also use shears to create balls or other geometric shapes from box, although you should reverse the shears to create inside bends of a spiral or other animal shapes. Prune older box from March to the summer solstice, after which you should only prune lightly to keep the shape. Pruning is best done on an overcast day and preferably when the plant is wet.
Animal shapes
If a more ambitious geometric or animal shape is what you want, you should not just try to cut back a large box into the desired shape. Start by having a good look at the plant with the new shape in mind, position small supports around the plant and begin by gently bending some twigs in the desired direction, secured by these supports. Eventually you will have the general shape and foliage volume required to cut back to the required design. Be patient. To grow a good shape will take quite a few years. However, if you can't wait that long you could opt for a pre-shaped, wire form. This is placed over the slightly larger bush and the branches that stick out can be cut back. Even then you still need to be patient before your box figure is fully shaped.
Shaped box looks good as a solitaire but, as in the grandest gardens, an avenue of pyramids, balls or cubic shapes is highly decorative too. Alternatively, a group of potted box displaying different sizes of the same box shape may be a more manageable version of this stunning idea.
Winter care
Box looks good throughout the year with its evergreen foliage and they can have an almost mysterious appearance when the are covered in snow or sleet. Potted box can stay outdoors but, where possible, put them in a slightly more sheltered and shady spot. As the leaves are evergreen, evaporation carries on all year round and dry wind, bright winter sun and frozen roots can seriously damage your plant. To protect the roots line the pot with blister padding before you plant the box and you could also wrap the pot in this plastic or in a rush mat. This has the added advantage of also protecting your nice ceramic pots from cracking. In more than 10° of frost, it is better to take pots indoors and put them in a cool, light place.
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