Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Box topiary too late ?

andrewnewtonandrewnewton Posts: 155
in Problem solving
We had this box just growing in the pot for a number of years and it seemed to get forgotten other than watering and the occasional feed

A couple of questions please
1) Is it too late to have a go at topiary
2) If it can be trained any suggestions for shapes from the clippers on the forum please together with advice for a newbie. It is multi stemmed but fortunately showing leaf at the base

Posts

  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    It's definitely not too late to topiarise.  I'm amazed at how healthy it looks, especially as it is in a relatively small pot for the size of the plant.  Much Box in the UK is afflicted by Blight or Caterpillar, but yours looks like it doesn't have either.

    The shape of your topiary depends on personal preference.  We like columns/domes/balls, rather than animals or specific objects.  The shape of your plant might make a good candidate for cloud pruning.  We don't have that in our garden, but here are examples. 

    These are some examples of topiary from our garden (none of it Box, as we got rid of it due to Caterpillar infestation).

    Pittosporum columns in pots (Euonymus Bravo standards/lollipops behind)



    Lonicera nitida domes (Pittosporum column on the back left of the photo)

    Privet hedge

  • danicakevickaSB3bonbtdanicakevickaSB3bonbt Posts: 1
    Hi. Please would you trim a box hedge infested by box caterpillar? Thank you 
  • andrewnewtonandrewnewton Posts: 155
    KeenOnGreen said:
    It's definitely not too late to topiarise.  I'm amazed at how healthy it looks, especially as it is in a relatively small pot for the size of the plant.  Much Box in the UK is afflicted by Blight or Caterpillar, but yours looks like it doesn't have either.

    The shape of your topiary depends on personal preference.  We like columns/domes/balls, rather than animals or specific objects.  The shape of your plant might make a good candidate for cloud pruning.  We don't have that in our garden, but here are examples. 

    These are some examples of topiary from our garden (none of it Box, as we got rid of it due to Caterpillar infestation).

    Pittosporum columns in pots (Euonymus Bravo standards/lollipops behind)



    Lonicera nitida domes (Pittosporum column on the back left of the photo)

    Privet hedge

    You've got a lovely garden. I think I'll stick to solid standard shapes as suggested. Cloud pruning looks great but I think I'd need the advanced certificate in secateur handling before I started that !!
Sign In or Register to comment.