common box
Buxus sempervirens
RHS Plants for Pollinators
USDA zones5 to 8
SunHandles full sun to partial sun
WaterHandles moderate or wet soil
Size5 to 15 feet tall5 to 15 feet wide
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Habit
- Dense
- Bloom season
- Spring
- Bloom color
- Greenish-cream
- Foliage color
- Gray/silver, green, orange
- Soil types
- Sand, loam, clay
Garden uses
Attracts
Notes
Common box (Buxus sempervirens) is a shrub for hedges, formal gardens, borders, and foundation plantings. It is hardy to USDA zone 5, or down to -20°F (-29°C). This plant likes full or part sun and average to wet, sandy, loamy, or clay soil. It grows slowly into a dense evergreen shrub with greenish-cream spring flowers that attract bees. Deer and rabbits rarely make it their first choice. Give it time to fill in.
Pairs well with Munstead lavender, Abiqua Drinking Gourd hosta, Casa Blanca lily, and Katsura tree.
Native range
Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and 4 more places. See all 8
Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, Corse, NW. Balkan Pen., Sardegna, and Türkiye.