Try a trip to Cuba - that's the world diversity hotspot for box, with about 30 species (nearly half the total!). Resin

i think you risk something if they find you there with the buxus in a plane these cuban species (45 in south america, 91 in the world), are endangered and well protected in havana botanical garden i think i have 13 species or so, pictures by email

Do you have any box from Sweden? We have only one interesting variety, called "Wrams Gunnarstorp" after the manor where it has grown for the past 350 years. The box hedges at Wrams were much admired by Carolus Linnaeus in 1753 when they were already 100 years old. They are still going strong and cuttings are finally in commerce. All other buxus sold in Sweden comes from Holland and is not reliably hardy here so this is a find, having survived the "little ice age" of the 17th century and the WWII winters that killed so many woody plants. I have two bushes, still small, but they will get larger than the only other variety I have, Buxus sempervirens suffruticosa.

hi Marianne, i have this buxus in my collection, and there are many other varieties of buxus sempervirens that must be hardy in your country. some of my plants have a hardiness to -37°C, buxus sempervirens ' Northern find', which makes often a few variegated branches, also buxus sempervirens 'Pullman' should be able to survive -37°C, which is zone 3b buxus x glencoe , ... there are a lot of buxus with an excellent cold hardiness! i live in zone 7 , and we often have very cold periods in winter, but not as cold as in sweden. only a few days -10 or -15 is possible

I'd guess that Buxus hyrcana and B. microphylla are both a little hardier than B. sempervirens - have they been tested? For clarification, the hardiness to -37°C isn't 'zone 3b': the zone temperatures are based on average annual minimum, not absolute minimum, so -37°C could occur in a severe winter in zone 5 Resin

hi, i have both the buxus hyrcana and buxus microphylla in my garden , i don't know what is their minimum temperature, it's difficult to test that here, this information is based on lynn batdorf's work about buxus, where they have tested the hardiness of buxus in USA i'm in zone 7, average minimum temeratures where i live are -10°C to -15°C , but i'm good protected from cold dry winds. i think buxus hyrcana is not very cold hardy , but i don't know. do you have one of the buxus species? are you more interested in pines? i have a few pinus species too...other rare trees and shrubs, woodland plants . i can send my total plant list by email. i have pictures of all these buxus in my garden.

I have discovered since my last posting that there are a few extremely hardy varieties of box already growing in Sweden. 'Kiruna' is one, found in and named for the northernmost town in Sweden, well above the Polar Circle and possibly USDA zone 3 (except that the American zones are not really applicable here). Another hardy variety is 'Polaris' but despite its name considered less hardy than 'Kiruna'. However, the greatest danger for box is spring sun, not the cold, even for my sempervirens plants. I cover the exposed side of my hedge in March and it survives better in my garden than in public plantings further south where they don't protect.

I allready have all these plants , well -growing in my garden , i baught 10 of each in denmark, from thomsens planteskole. i like the Kiruna plant , it's a little more blue than the other buxus. you have a very good knowledge about buxus! why do i have no problems with spring sun? i'm in zone 7

Spring scorch is caused when the plant cannot get enough water to the leaves to deal with the sun. Deeply frozen or dry soil causes this, but it can also be caused by very cold air combined with strong sun. I'm guessing Wim doesn't have deeply frozen soil.