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By Rick Wallace Advertisement Southern Gardens ENJOYING THE E A S Y, V E R S AT I L E B O X W O O D Boxwoods offer a strong backbone to any landscape. They have been called "man's old garden ornamental." The ancient Egyptians used boxwoods in their landscapes in 4000 BC. They decorate some of the world's most famous landmarks including Versailles, Mount Vernon, and The White House. So how does this classic plant fit into your landscape? One advantage is boxwoods are evergreen, so they provide that green backdrop year round. They are slow growing, which means less maintenance and pruning. Certain varieties like wintergreen boxwoods (Korean boxwood) are extremely disease and insect resistant. Japanese boxwoods, too, are a very resilient plant. They have a slightly different color than Korean wintergreen boxwoods. Because they are so hearty, that means less worry and hassle for a homeowner. Then there are accent plants. Boxwoods can make a statement highlighting a corner or end of a hedge. I love American boxwoods. Yes, they can be finicky, but I think you just have to understand that they are like a hydrangea; they really do not want full sun all day. They need a break. And they need to have well drained soil (we plant ours on top of the ground and mound soil up to the root ball). It helps to buy your boxwoods locally. If they are imported from Oregon (most are these days), they may go into shock because they are not acclimated to our climate. We buy our American and English boxwoods out of North Carolina to avoid this problem. Another reason boxwoods are the perfect corner accent is the ease of maintaining them at a certain height. They can reach five to six feet or you can buy them this size, but they are so much easier to maintain than, for example, a Nelly R Stevens holly planted on the corner of house. The holly does not want to be maintained at six or eight feet when its mature height is more than 20 feet. Why battle a plant's natural growth tendencies? Plant boxwood. 78 l MACON MAGAZINE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2013