Gardening: boxwood identification

Self-tutoring about landscape shrubs: the tutor mentions boxwood.

I’ve recently come upon the idea that some shrubs in the yard need gentle attention. Specifically, they may need some cutting back: they’ve been allowed to grow for many years, so have grown bigger than my wife might prefer.

The first step, in such a case, is to determine each shrub that one is dealing with, since its kind determines how to care for it. Some shrubs one prunes in the spring; some in the dead of winter; still others, in the fall.

One shrub was thought to be a certain kind, but I wasn’t sure. I delved into the situation, researching its features on the Internet.

After some time I determined that shrub to be a boxwood. Decisive, to me, seems to be that its fruit – not very noticeable – browns and opens into three parts, each of which looks like an owl (!)

Source:

Virginia Tech Dendrology Fact Sheet

University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture

Picture This: How to Identify Common Boxwood