Winter Gem Boxwood Shrub

Get a Classic Garden Vibe with Easy Maintenance

Our ‘Winter Gem’ Boxwood is a versatile and easy-going evergreen. Perfect for creating that classical garden feel. It can also be used to create a clean and contemporary look.

Boxwood ‘Winter Gem’ is a small, evergreen shrub that is reasonably cold-hardy. It is often used in formal plantings–think sweeping lines in a landscape–or as short hedges. You may have seen this boxwood planted as a border along a sidewalk or used to separate a patio or porch from the rest of the yard. 

A slow grower, Winter Boxwood Gem is an excellent choice for smaller spaces where a large shrub would eventually outgrow its spot and its welcome. Winter Gem’s more diminutive stature and slow growth habit mean it will not grow tall and cast shade on the rest of your garden bed. The winter gem boxwood growth rate is less than 1 foot per year.

The Winter Gem Korean Boxwood is attractive all year long. However, new growth in spring is a vibrant light lime color and provides excellent contrast with the older, darker foliage. 

‘Winter Gem’ is great for landscape design. The best use for ‘Winter Gem’ is providing visual separation between patios, decks, or play areas. A well-trimmed short wall of ‘Winter Gem’ can transform an outdoor space from uninspired to organized and purposeful.  

Topiary, anyone? These boxwoods are also great for growing in a container and trimming into a pyramid, cylinder, or ball shape. Shaped boxwoods in containers are often used to flank a doorway or gate.

Dress up a boring backyard and add some year-round class to your property with ‘Winter Gem’.

Winter Gem Boxwood Care Information

Boxwood ‘Winter Gem’ is hardy in USDA plant hardiness zone 5 and warmer, up to about zone 9. If planting in zone 5, we recommend planting it in a sheltered spot that will not be exposed to high winds during winter. 

These boxwoods will grow well in either sun or partial shade. If planting in warmer regions of zone 8 and 9, some shelter from the hot afternoon sun may be beneficial.

Loamy or slightly sandy soil is best, but it will grow in most soils as long as they are well-drained. Boxwoods prefer a neutral soil pH. 

Mulching under your boxwoods is essential to keep the soil moist, protect the boxwood’s shallow root systems, and control weeds and grass from growing up through your shrub and becoming an eyesore. 

Planting Winter Gem Boxwoods

Boxwoods are easy to plant and maintain. If you are trying to achieve a small winter gem boxwood hedge we recommend spacing your plants 2-3 feet apart.

Winter Gem Boxwood Size

‘Winter Gem’ boxwoods are small shrubs and will be only 2-3 feet high and about 2 feet wide at maturity if pruned. Leave ‘Winter Gem’ in an unpruned, natural state, and it will reach about 3-4 feet high and 3 feet wide, with a more open and less formal shape.  

Your new boxwood won’t need any fertilizer during the first year. After that, it can be fertilized every spring with a slow-release fertilizer applied at the base of the shrub.

Lightly pruning your ‘Winter Gem’ will make it grow full and dense, with thicker foliage wherever it is pruned. Left unpruned, they will have a more natural appearance but will not take on the solid and dense look boxwoods are known for. 

Prune in spring to encourage new growth and a solid, trim, formal appearance.

Thanks to their slow growth, Boxwood ‘Winter Gem’ requires less annual pruning and maintenance than many other boxwoods.

Shop the Winter Gem Boxwood for sale today!

Read more about the Best Places for Boxwoods. They can provide protection as a windbreak low privacy screen in your landscape too.

Check out our grow guide for boxwoods!

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