Box hedge plants (Buxus sempervirens)

Box (Buxus sempervirens) hedge plants summary, often called Boxwood

• Evergreen
• Slow growing so it keeps a neat shape for a long time
• Small soft leaves which are easy to trim and ideal for a formal shaped hedge
• Good in shady and sunny situations
  
• Will grow well at the coast and inland
• Ideal for low hedges (from 30cm to 1.2m)
• Non-native
• As one of our most popular hedging plant species we have Box in all root types  - bare roots are available in the dormant season (November to April), root balls are available in a slightly extended dormant season (mid October to early May), pot grown, cell grown and instant hedging are available all year round
  
• For those concerned about Box blight or Box moth caterpillar, have a look at Euonymus 'Green Spire' which has a very similar appearance and growth habit but without the issues
  

Box (Buxus sempervirens) hedging, often called Boxwood, is one of our most popular species.  The small leaves and soft stems are easy to trim into a neat shape, and because it is quite slow-growing, it keeps its shape for many months.

A popular option is to buy Box as a bare root plant, as this is an inexpensive way to establish what appears to be an expensive evergreen hedge.  Bare root plants very quickly thicken up to a solid screen, whether that’s a border edge at a height of 30cm or a taller box hedge at anything up to 3m tall.  Most Box hedging is between 30cm and 1m tall.   We also have mature root-ball hedging plants, pot-grown, cell-grown, and instant hedging, so there are Box plants for every budget.

We recommend trimming twice per year to keep the hedge looking neat.  The first trim should be in early June, when the spring growth makes it look a bit shaggy (provided there are no nesting birds in the hedge).  It should be trimmed again in mid-to-late September, when it still has some warmish days to grow a soft layer of new leaves to cover the cuts and help them heal.  If you miss the first cut, it won’t matter, but try not to trim after the end of September; otherwise, the open cuts will not have had time to heal before winter.  Choose dry but cloudy days for your box hedge trimming.

Whilst Box hedging has had coverage in gardening magazines, the press, and TV, as being prone to disease (Box moth caterpillar and Box blight), many areas of the country are disease-free.  If there are nice Box hedges around you, then there’s not much to worry about.  We still sell very large quantities of Box hedging plants.  A good alternative is Lonicera nitida, which also makes a very dense evergreen hedge with tiny leaves.  Lonicera is fast-growing, so it needs trimming more often than Box.  Yew is often used for border edging, too, and is slow-growing like Box but darker green.  Our most popular alternative to Box hedging is Euonymus 'Green Spire', which has a remarkably similar appearance and growth habit.

Whilst nearly all our hedging plants are grown in the UK, it is virtually impossible to find any Box bare root hedging grown here, so our plants come from the best growers in Holland (as do the vast majority of all Box hedging plants sold in the UK).  Our root balls are grown in Holland, too,  where they specialise in this growing technique.  Our Box instant hedging troughs, pot-grown plants and cell-grown plants are all grown in Britain.

Hedge Nursery has supplied vast quantities of Box hedging plants over many years – our reviews are excellent, and you can buy with confidence knowing that you will receive top quality plants that will give you a beautiful, dense, low maintenance hedge.  You can read more about bare root plants and how they are grown here, more about root ball plants here and more about cell grown plants and instant hedging here.

DELIVERY CHARGES

Delivery charges are automatically calculated at checkout, based on the size of the plants and the value of your order.  Our delivery charges and the kick-in points for free delivery are highly competitive, and about 90% of orders are delivered free.

DESPATCH TIMELINES

Most plant specifications are in stock, so we typically dispatch within a few days after you order.  Generally, we don't dispatch on Fridays, to avoid plants being in transit over a weekend.  Rest assured that we will do everything we can to deliver your plants as soon as possible.

You'll receive an email from us on the despatch day, and delivery will occur within 48 hours - usually the next day, but occasionally it may take an extra day.

If you'd like to delay delivery to a date that suits your planting schedule, please include a note in the Delivery Instructions section at checkout or email us at hello@hedgenursery.co.uk.

We do not take responsibility for any deliveries delayed by couriers.

Pre-orders

For pre-ordered plants with an expected future delivery date (shown before you added them to your basket), we will dispatch around the indicated date.  If your order includes both pre-order and in-stock items, we'll send everything together when the pre-order items become available.

Root Ball Plants

Root-ball plants are freshly lifted from our fields upon order.  This approach ensures the plants are at their freshest when you receive them, improving their success rate.  If you want delivery on a specific date, please order well in advance of when you need them.

During peak season, we lift root-ball plants twice weekly, aiming to deliver within 3-7 days.  During busy periods, this may extend to 7-14 days.  As the season slows, we lift once a week, with delivery within 7 working days.  We'll promptly inform you of any stock unavailability or delivery delays upon receiving your order.

RECEIVING DELIVERY (Do I need to be at home?)

All deliveries will be sent with “no signature required”, so you do not need to be at home on the day of delivery.

For pallet deliveries, we will phone or email you on the day we dispatch. If you wish, you can arrange for someone to be there the following day to ensure the pallet is left in a convenient place for you to unpack the plants.

Pallets are delivered to the ‘kerbside’, but if there is driveway access for a pallet truck, the pallet will be left on the driveway or another suitable access point to your address, rather than blocking a road or pavement. Pallet trucks require a hard surface; pallets cannot be moved over gravel, soft or uneven ground, or grass. 

Drivers do not unpack the pallets and it is down to the drivers discretion whether they will take the empty pallet away. If not, then customers must dispose of the pallet themselves.

RETURNS

We are rarely asked to accept a return.  We can facilitate returns by collecting the parcel (s) or palletised plants from you (in their original packaging), but we do not refund the delivery charge or the carrier collection and delivery back to us.  We do not accept returns if you have ordered too many plants.

If you wish to return an order, please email hello@hedgenursery.co.uk, and we will explain the process in more detail.