Late winter has to be one of the best times of the year to cast a critical eye over the bare bones of any garden. It’s a welcome opportunity to review the structure and balance of our landscape - or maybe the lack of it - and to consider what adjustments or amendments we might like to make. This is the time of year we can clearly see the relative sizes and shapes of our bare-branched trees and shrubs and perhaps consider what’s too big, bad or has become just plain ugly.
This is also a time to appreciate the varied bark colours and branch textures against the continuing lushness offered by the wonderful selection of broadleafed evergreens that flourish here. From the wide variety of rhododendrons and camellias to smaller shrubs such as Sarcococca, many of which flower at the edge of winter and into spring. Setting flower interest aside, two shrubs that don’t really scream ‘Buy Me’ at a nursery but which offer outstanding structural service to any winter garden are Boxwood and Laurel. The latter has to be one of the most misnamed groups of shrubs in the garden repertoire.
Boxwood (* see note below) has been around for a very long time. Fossilized boxwood plants date back as far as 22 million years. The Ancient Greeks and Romans appreciated it for its architectural qualities, landscaping their villas with boxwood topiaries. They also used the wood for utensils, ornaments and small containers hence the genus name Buxus, Latin for box. Due to its slow growth, which gives the wood a very fine grain, it was and still is a premiere wood for detailed carving. It is used today for small delicate items such as white wood chess pieces as well as parts for musical instruments. It is one of the few woods that are denser than water.
The small compact leaves of Boxwood, its slow growth and above all a tolerance for serious shearing have made it a star plant for low hedges and for topiaries in formal gardens. It will allow a lovely curve or a crisp triangle to enhance any parterre as long as there are enough clipping hands available - something to seriously bear in mind before planting!
Today there are over 30 species of Boxwood. Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’ is the dwarf cultivar commonly known as English or Edging Boxwood. This little understated evergreen blessing that has historically kept our gardens in shape winter and summer for centuries and continues to do so today.
Boxwood’s larger leafed companion in many gardens here is Cherry laurel, Prunus laurocerasis with its wonderful lustrous green leaves. Cherry laurel was first discovered by a French researcher in 1546 in NE Turkey, and is native to the Black Sea, S.W. Asia and S.E. Europe. Like the so called Mountain laurel Kalmia latifolia and Spotted laurel Aucuba japonica, it is not botanically a laurel; but because the leaves resemble the true Bay Laurel, Laurus nobilis and the the fruit is cherry-like, the common name has stuck.
Also known as English laurel, this shrub’s very useful characteristics (such as tolerance for shade and drought, rapid growth and evergreen leaves) have unfortunately been too much of a good thing here in the Pacific Northwest. It can out-compete and kill off natives and is now considered ‘invasive’. Fortunately there are some better behaved members of this species available for gardens such as ‘Shipkaensis’ and ‘Otto Luyken’ to name just two.
‘Shipkaensis’, sometimes called Skip or Russian laurel is named after the place it was discovered in 1889, the high mountain Schipka Pass in Bulgaria. It is indigenous to S.E. Europe and Asia Minor. Compared to English laurel it is lower growing with an upright habit to approx. 9 ft. height and has narrower, slightly darker coloured leaves.
Skip’s much more compact cousin ‘Otto Luyken’ was not indigenous to an area but is named after the shrub’s hybridizer who was was born in Germany in 1884. Otto Luyken grew up in lower Saxony and inherited the family 'Hesse' Tree and Shrub Nursery. Thanks to him the nursery gained an excellent reputation during the 1930s: the ‘Otto Luyken’ Cherry laurel was selected by the nursery in 1940 and introduced to the trade in 1953, very sadly the year of Otto’s death. It was awarded the RHS award of merit in 1968.
Today we love this shrub for its beautiful narrow dark green leaves that can make formal compact hedges which at the same time look surprisingly natural. It also offers an abundance of creamy white flowers in April followed by glossy black drupes much loved by the birds in midsummer. A word of warning here: do not use light coloured patio umbrellas or awnings near these birds. A post berry feed hallmark can often be a shower or trail of indelible dark purple stains. So if you live near laurel it is wise to buy black or navy patio umbrellas. But thank you Otto for such a lovely garden shrub.
Author: Lorraine Lewis, MG, Vancouver Chapter
* note: please refer to our website NEWS article dated January 9, 2012 re Boxwood Blight Update.
