ABOUT US
Suppliers of native English field-grown box to the trade since 1989, Earlstone offers one of the finest collections of quality large box topiary and contemporary cloud hedging in the UK. We’ve provided plants to landscape architects, garden designers, and Gold-medal winning gardens at The Chelsea Flower Show.
Located within a private estate in north Hampshire, just south of Newbury, Earlstone’s stock was propagated from cuttings of local wild box copses, and our hand-tended plants are now between 20 and 30 years old. Additionally, Earlstone’s box growing unit uses the latest techniques in maintenance and hygiene, which together with our nursery’s isolation and careful management, work towards keeping our 6,000 mature specimens healthy and disease-free.
BOX CARE
Box is a stunning architectural plant and creates a significant visual impact on any garden, and with care will live and thrive for many years. The basic rule of watering is seldom but thoroughly, with newly planted box needing weekly watering for the first year. Box is a nutrient hungry plant and should be fed once or twice over the summer. We recommend the Topbuxus range, available with free UK delivery from www.topbuxus.co.uk.
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Clipping should be done in the growing season between from May to September, before there is too much growth as it is easier to retain the shape of the plant. If you trim in the autumn or winter, newgrowth will start in the following Spring. Box is a hardy shrub, but there are still diseases and pests which can affect it, but these can be treated, just like any other garden plant. We have successfully used, and can recommend Topbuxus Healthmix at www.topbuxus.co.uk
TOPIARY
Earlstone’s five acre nursery has a huge choice of box balls, cones, pyramids, spirals and beehives, cloud hedging and more unusual specimens, in a vast range of shapes and sizes – many of which are
over 1.5m high and 1m wide.
Whether used as hedging, in traditional forms, or as organic modern shapes, box gives permanent structure to visual spaces, it frames vistas and views, and combines perfectly with other more colourful plantings. Even in winter, when gardens often appear bleak and bare, box remains vibrantly green and maintains interest with its shaped forms and permanent colour. English box, like no other plant, defines and creates gardens.
CLOUD HEDGING
Clipped using traditional topiary techniques, but with subtle contemporary curves, cloud hedges provide instant structure and architecture to any garden or space. In our dedicated cloud nursery
the box specimens are allowed to grow free-form, enabling the plants to begin ‘knitting’ together and start forming the amazing cloud-shaping process.
BOX CARE
Box is a nutrient hungry plant and should be fed once or twice over the summer months, and we recommend doing this at the beginning of April, June and August. The basic rule of watering is seldom but thoroughly, although newly planted box requires weekly watering for the first year.
While English box is a robust, forgiving shrub, the natural ecologies of trees and plants are being challenged by imports, which have introduced foreign infections and pests into our native environment. However, just like any other garden plant, these can be prevented with good garden management and gentle treatments. We’ve also used Topbuxus Healthmix, Actiferm and Bayer’s Fungus Fighter to keep box blight at bay. Whilst pruning traditionally takes place from June to early-August, climate change and warmer summers mean it’s now also being carried out in the cooler months of mid-winter.
DELIVERY & CONTACT
We’re always happy to quote for speciality items, larger orders of bare-root plants, clipped and trained trees, and cloud hedging. We’ll email images for approval, and take great care in matching specimens in sets and pairs. Delivery is at cost, and we work with local companies who quote based on distance and size of the order.
Visits to Earlstone are by appointment only, so do get in touch if you wish to come in person. Many landscape architects and garden designers choose to walk the nursery, selecting from both eclectic and conventional shapes – an adventure in creativity.