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Box hedging has undergone an extraordinary revival over the last few years, partly fuelled by an interest in the restoration of historic gardens. European nurseries have provided topiary shapes and instant hedges at reasonable cost, while designers have seen an opportunity to create unique layouts or reproduce period gardens in modern materials

Parterres in the French style were at the height of their popularity for more than 200 years and consisted of tightly trimmed low hedges in geometric shapes. These were highlighted by coloured gravel or displayed in combination with other low-growing plants. Early examples included those of the French royal gardens at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Fontainebleau and reached a climax with those of the Versailles. The English knot garden was a variation on this, with patterns clipped to give the impression of platted or knotted strands of planting. Locally, fine parterres can be seen at Hatfield House and WrestPark

While other plants have been used throughout the centuries, Box, in the form of Buxus sempervirens or the dwarf cultivar B.s. Suffruticosa remain the most popular and successful for this form of gardening. Box was thought to be one of the easiest plants to grow and clipped hedges of the plant are known to have survived for a hundred years or more. Events of this decade have seen this view challenged with the decimation of historic and modern parterres by Box Blight, a fungal disease for which there is currently no chemical treatment.

We have designed and planted several Box parterres over the years but have also experimented with alternative plant species. In my own garden we have a parterre of Rosemary, a wonderfully scented feature in the centre of which we cultivate herbaceous plants to provide summer colour. I have planted similar features for customers and find it is a good choice where rabbits are a problem: the resinous leaves are unattractive to them.

Until recently we grew a number of dwarf hedges here at the office gardens but many were removed to make way for our new pond. We still have Box hedges in association with Roses but also grow Santolina and Lavender, clipped informally – some would say carelessly – allowing the flowers to develop fully. These are not long lived plants at the best of times and when grown in this way should be replaced every 4 or 5 years. Fortunately they both grow easily from cuttings so a rotational replanting should not prove too expensive to achieve.

Other suitable plants include green forms of Euonymus, Lonicera nitida and Sarcococca, while colour can be added using purple or yellow leaved Berberis, variegated Euonymus and yellow varieties of Ilex crenata and Lonicera nitida.

The formality of the parterre is suitable for many parts of the garden. Courtyards or other enclosed areas can benefit from the formality they provide and awkward shapes from the unifying effect of the strong geometric lines. They can be a stunning in front gardens and for those with a large space to fill create a distinctive “room” to split up the area into more manageable sections. The parterre has much more mileage in it yet and unlike many features is unlikely ever to look dated.

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• #1 Comment from ally123130585918
  09/08/05 14:29 | Permalink

  I really liked these boxed hedges they really look very good.....Ally