A Boxwood by Any Other Name

When I was young, I spent a few summers at my grandmother's in Philly's suburbs.  She had a pretty garden hedged in by boxwoods just outside the aptly named Garden Room.  There isn't a time that I smell boxwoods that I don't think of Nana and the hot, humid summers of Philly.


 Boxwoods are slow-growing, evergreen shrubs that need some shade and warm weather to be happy.



In my former home, I had planted 2 boxwoods, one near the front corner of the front porch and the other at the opposite end of the porch.  The one at the opposite end was in the direct path of poorly thrown basketballs, and boys chasing them.  Runaway skateboards found there home in it.  Many a toddler held on to it looking for Easter eggs.  It's shape suffered but not it's roots.  After 10+ years, I transplanted it to a more restful spot, still by the front porch.  I was rewarded!  It grew and regained its former shape.  Humid, summer nights I could smell the boxwood as I sat on the front porch, or as I walked up the sidewalk after a warm rain.

My mother taught me that I could cut the evergreen leaves to bring inside during the winters and add to flower arrangements throughout the year.  I plan to plant several boxwoods in the new house's yard when we get home.

If you click on the link to my favorite misplaced Yankee (side panel), in her March posting, you'll see that she has boxwoods in her front yard.  The connection is not a coincidence.

Today Jeff and I hiked in the Petit Luberon.  The trail was still damp with yesterday's rain and last night's dew.  I took a deep breath and smelled boxwoods.  Aromatherapy for me!

Is there any surprise that the universe sent me a wonderful man to love whose last name, translated from German into English, is "boxwood"??????????


Blue skies!