The Shapely Boxwood

This classic shrub is thriving in all kinds of Southern gardens thanks to sturdier new selections.

- Katherine Owen

“BOXWOOD IS LIKE the ‘little black dress’ of plants. Every garden should have one,” says Cedar Baldridge, a Houston landscape designer who includes them in all of her garden designs. And how could she not be a fan? The shrub’s small, dense, evergreen leaves have a versatile and sculptural quality. They can be coaxed into decorative topiaries; shaped into tall, thick hedges that hide and protect; or used as low parterres that organize other plants. The boxwood has been a staple of fine gardens for millennia, spanning from the formal hedges of ancient Egypt to the palatial gardens of Greece and Rome to the tidy landscapes of Colonial Williamsburg.