3 Green Velvet Boxwoods - IB2DWs - June 2022

Back a couple of weeks ago, I scrambled a bit to buy and plant some shrubs ahead of a professional cleanup and mulch job that we had going on in our yard and garden.  As I've said a few times in the past few months, shrubs are where my focus has been this planting and growing season.  In this post back in early March, I outlined a series of garden 'slices' and how I needed to prioritize the planting of shrubs to both provide the necessary structure and (in some cases) four-season interest.  To that end, #1 on my 2022 to-do list was to "Focus on Shrubs".  And, over the past few weeks, I've tried to pay that goal off.  

The most recent shrub-related post was about the pair of Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas that I planted from the Morton Arboretum Spring sale.  In that post, I ran through a mini-inventory of what I've added including 9 new flowering shrubs and six upright evergreens.  Full list:

• Six upright evergreens - Green Giant Thujas. Technically trees. So, those don't count, right?
• Four treeform Doublefile Viburnum.
• Four transplanted Lilacs.
• Three Little Honey Hydrangeas.
• Two Ruby Slippers Hydrangeas.

In my post outlining my shrub needs, I added up a bunch of needs in the slices that included: 5 Oakleaf Hydranges, 8 Viburnum, 3 Little Lime Hydrangeas, 3 Tardiva Hydrangea, 1 panicle hydrangea, 6-8 upright evergreens and 6-8 boxwoods and/or Yews (shade evergreens).  

Comparing those two lists leaves these remaining:

• 5 Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  Planted and done. 
• 8 Viburnum.  4 treeform bought.  3 planted in back.  1 in front.  Call it 5 remaining.
• 3 Little Lime Hydrangeas.  
• 3 Tardiva Hydrangeas
• 1 Panicle Hydrangea.  Planted one of the Doublefile Viburnum here.  
• 6-8 upright evergreens  Planted six Green Giant Thujas in two spots.
• 6-8 boxwoods and/or Yews

That last item (6-8 boxwoods and/or Yews) is the focus of this post.  

Back in mid-May, I discovered and brought home three small Green Velvet Boxwoods.  Here, below, are the nursery containers.  

Why Green Velvet?  Because of what I read at Hinsdale Nursery:  

"Its deep green leaves have good color retention in the winter. It is also one of the best boxwoods for cold hardiness in our area. Green Velvet is adaptable to a wide variety of soil conditions. It cannot tolerate drought and benefits from protection from winter winds." 

Checks a lot of boxes, right?  Tolerates drought.  Hardy for our zone.  Handles wide variety of soil conditions.  

I've been wanting to add some structure - and 'winter interest' to the IB2DWs bed - so that's where I planted these three little Green Velvet boxwoods - around the trunk of the Chanticleer Pear tree, bordering the gravel walkway and the stone border. 

There are a few things going on in that photo, so here (below) is an annotated version of the photo.  The green circles are the 3 Green Velvet Boxwoods.  The red oval is a Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass.  And the orange circle = Prairie Dropseed.

A few more things to note here:  

#3 on my 2022 to-do list is: Add four-season plants (i.e. Winter interest).  Check.

#4 on my 2022 to-do list is:  enhance the IB2DWs strip.  Check.

For shrubs, these are the 10, 11 and 12th shrubs that I've planted this year.  Feel pretty good about that number. 

I still need to add (at least) three more Boxwoods and/or Yews - three along the side of the house in front of the gate (northside) and three to six back by the fire pit area. Combination of Hicks upright Yews and boxwoods.   Last year, I found $5 tiny boxwoods at the end of the season - I planted three of these Green Gems that were $5 each in October.  I'll be keeping an eye out for that deep sale price late this season.  

I'm going to start a new tag: [Late 2022 Garden List] to track some of the things I'd like to monitor for sale prices.