Adaptability, resilience and verdurous beauty set this topnotch cultivar apart. Selected by the esteemed Chicago Botanic Garden-based breeding program, ‘Glencoe’s dashing dense rounded habit quickly develops into a semidwarf evergreen shrub. Promoting impressive cold hardiness and a English Boxwood likeness, the fine textured dark green leaves can be sculpted into natty hedges, pruned in a more casual manner and juxtaposed against bold-leafed Persicarias.

Size: 2' 0" – 3-1/2' high x 2' 0" – 3-1/2' wide.

Hardy to zone 4.

Developed at Ontario’s Sheridan Nursery, this handsome open-pollinated cross between Buxus sempervirens and Buxus microphylla var. koreana is a match made in heaven that melds the best traits of both parents: diminutive compact size, superb cold hardiness, dense vigorous growth and rich forest-green winter hues. The tightknit, naturally broad mounding habit is neatly dressed with small, gleaming opposite leaves. Undaunted by deer, shearing and hot humid weather, aptly named ‘Green Velvet’ makes a low edging shrub, posh container specimen and a classic dark green addition to borders, parterres, knot gardens and massed plantings. Mulch, good drainage, dappled afternoon shade in hot environs plus an annual thinning for improved air circulation promise long-lived evergreen growth.

Size: 3' 0" – 4' 0" high x 3' 0" – 4' 0" wide.

Hardy to zone 5.

Hallmarked by a well groomed verdure, the low growing ‘Green Beauty’ is second-to-none for hedging or edging, accenting the rock garden or making an architectural statement just about anywhere. Polished, small rounded leaves maintain a crisp, dark green look all year long while cloaking the upright, yet compact semidwarf form.

This versatile evergreen can handle hot and cold weather and makes a plucky counterpoint amid Westringia ‘Smokey’ or Teucrium fruticans (Select Form).

Size: 4' 0" – 6' 0" high x 4' 0" wide.

Hardy to zone 6.

Applauded as one of the species’ premier forms, this good-looking chance mutation of Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’ was discovered by its namesake in Germany’s Herrenhausen Royal Garden in the late 1980s. Hardier than other sempervirens, the distinctive dwarf habit assumes a rounded, strictly upright and compact shape with densely set small shiny evergreen leaves, sporting unique frosted blue-green hues. A dapper first-class choice for low borders, diminutive hedges, rock work and pots, ‘Blauer Heinz’ favors adequately moist, well-drained soil and requires little pruning or maintenance.

Size: 2-1/2' high x 2-1/2' wide.

Hardy to zone 5.

Introduced in 1949 by the University of Virginia’s Blandy Experimental Farm, this aristocratic evergreen Boxwood struts a suave, strongly upright narrow stance. Dense erect branches are clothed from the ground up with small, polished oval leaves that emphasize new springtime, soft green growth and once mature, rich dark emerald tones. A topnotch choice for any garden, especially where space is limited, ‘Graham Blandy’s impeccable columnar habit can be employed as a specimen, or as a sentinel to denote a threshold, or it can be staged throughout a stylized meadow.

Size: 6' 0" – 9' 0" high x 18" – 2' 0" wide.

Hardy to zone 5.

This handsome Boxwood is distinguished by a lustrous mass of tiny dark green leathery leaves, maintaining superb winter color then transmuting a pronounced bluish cast in spring, while dressing a hardy, broad spreading habit. ‘Vadar Valley’ thrives with sun or shade, stays fairly short and rounded, grows at a moderate pace, and is the perfect choice for foundation plantings, low hedges or grouped statements, anywhere its emerald hues can shine.

Size: 2-1/2' high x 5' 0" wide.

Hardy to zone 5.

With a tailored demeanor clipped or not, this undemanding Boxwood is second-to-none for hedging, edging, accenting the rockery or sculpting a topiary or bonsai specimen. Young downy branches and lustrous, small elliptical leaves in crisp dark greens define the dwarf rounded form that grows slowly and a little less densely.

A reliably cold tolerant evergreen, it can be planted as a low and refined verdant border, allowing more rambunctious plants to exuberantly spill over.

Size: 2' 0" high x 20" wide.

Hardy to zone 4.

Introduced in 1960 by Ohio’s Scarff Nursery, this robust broad-leafed evergreen proclaims improved pest resistance and superb cold-hardiness plus a tasteful medium green coloration that’s less likely to bronze during the winter. Bearing sparse, scented, tiny chartreuse blooms in spring, numerous densely woven branches coupled with trim, petite ovate leaves forge a compact, slow growing mounded form. ‘Wintergreen’ injects a pleasing air of refinement to massed plantings, formal hedges, mixed borders, containers and even bonsai collections.

Blooms April–May

Size: 4' 0" – 5' 0" high x 4' 0" – 5' 0" wide.

Hardy to zone 4.