No. And a few more no's, just for good measure.

In the north, boxwoods need winter shade so they don't burn. This is not negotiable.

Green Mountain is not a small plant. I suppose you could keep it pruned to 2 ft wide, but it is going to be cramped in that space.

So there will be some roots right against the wall of the raised beds. Those roots will probably be toast after winter, but the bigger problem is going to be the winterburn.

why do you want to put shrubs in a raised bed.... rather than straight into mother earth???

not really understanding the project ... but i would use bricks for edging ....

how about a pic of the spot.. so we can debate the need for a raised bed???

i cant think of much in the way of shrubs.. that will prosper in a 2 foot wide... 1.5 foot deep raised bed .... it just doesnt sound right to me ....

ken

You are essentially doing a bottomless planter and at only 2’ wide and 1.5’ tall, it will likely freeze solid. That is hard on evergreens since it prevents them being able to get any winter water and so they dry out.

What advantage are you envisioning that the raised planter will give you?

I don’t know if you can handle a pic of the spot lol, but be warned. My thinking is privacy fence, this bed will be placed on the properly line, I should mention... it will be bottomless so not sure if that chances things.

I do have experience ( a bit) with boxwoods in full sun, like... no shade at all, I had them on my last home with nothing around just framing a water fountain, their browsing was not bad at all. At my current house I have them on the south side of the house and they are doing beautifully as well, my biggest reason behindakind the raised bed, is for helping them with height, they will be the only plant on the bed hence the width of it. Pics coming in a moment

In this first pic you can see the RIGHT side is my property, the LEFT part is the neighboors, both the flower bed and wooden raised bed are on my property... where the wooden bed is now thats the spot that I want to do a raised bed, brick or something else, still figuring out things. The bed that is currently there ( for veggies ) is about 4' wide, I feel like it is too wide for just boxwoods, but I have not done a bed like that before.

I even arranged some bricks there to just give me an idea of how it will look when finished...?

I welcome any thoughts, I have considered other shrubs, but I just LOVE boxwoods, and my idea of an evergreen that does not get too crazy big when matured is limited.

This is a somewhat difficult picture to make sense of, but Green Mountain is directly behind the rose bush. It is at least 6 ft tall, and 5 ft wide.

YES! I love that! did It take long to get that mature? How big was it when you planted it?

It's going to take a heck of along time to collect enough bricks to make a bed of those dimensions, isn't it? And if it's 1.5 feet high I imagine it'll need mortar rather than dry stacking. I also think you'd do better planting in the ground.

Yes, I was already planing on mortar and doubling the bricks, I have quite a few more, we took down a chimney last fall but I definitely don’t have enough. This space has been forgotten because I can’t quite decide on something, this year I’m making it happen

I bought the boxwood as quarts at an end of season sale. They grew fast. People talk about how slow boxwood grows, but the Korean hybrids apparently didn't get that memo. The Green Mountain I think took 5 or 6 years to hit 5 ft.

maybe its the coffee ... but what do you accomplish by raising the box 1.5 feet or so ...

just making a short shrub that much higher???

thinking outside your box.. almost literally ... take the front of the existing box ... and use it to get height on the backside ... and just use brick on your side so it looks pretty for you ...

on some level .. im thinking berm.. and using the brick decoratively.. rather than structurally ... and you could plant other stuff on your side of the berm ... also .... your space is flat.. so a little more natural undulation.. might be pleasing ...

also ... of what use is the lawn in your tiny yard .... im thinking it might disappear.. over the years ... lol .. and if thats possible.. then think a bit more long term ... with the current problem ...

one other outside box thought.. a small tree or shrub guided into tree form .. smack dab in the middle of the veg bed ... might block off the sight line across the street ... from the house view ... rather than a line of short box ... which wont change the house view ... [i cant tell in the first pic.. if thats a deck/porch on the right side ... or the back corner of the house ....]

ken

All great advice, and I really appreciate it, I was hoping to kill two birds at once, adding height and also adding a nice touch (brick ) to the flat looking yard, but now I am convinced that the original thought of the small "wall" may not be beneficial in the long run for the boxwoods, I will be planting them directly in the groun and hoping that in a few years I can get a nice hedge... Time will tell :)

NOW, I measure the space along that strip and leaving room of 2' on each side, I have an 18' long of space... How many boxwoods should I plant? I was thinking 5 total, which would be planted approx 3' apart...Is that overkill?