Urgently need to grow a pair of balls (or twelve)

[LindsayWagner]

Have just moved into house with a clean-slate garden - nothing at all in it apart from overgrown grass.

In last house I had a pretty lavender and buxus front garden - various sizes of ball from big to small, close-but-randomly-spaced, with different types of lavender and alliums growing through.

I'd like to do similar thing here on a bigger scale along one side of the garden - but I can't afford to spend a vast amount on buxus (biggies are £100+). Can anyone think of spherical shrubs, evergreen if poss, the bigger the better, which I could substitute? Don't mind doing judicious pruning.

I once pulled out a pic of a garden entirely filled with spherical plants, all green, all different sizes - but lost it years ago dammit.

I think hebe could do it. Or lonicera nitida. Or ivy over a wirework frame (quick and cheap).

But do you have to instant results? Can you afford to wait? If you're patient, you could [enters into spirit of thread] grow your balls from cuttings. Where do you live? I have a lovely [preens] box hedge that I grew on from rooted cuttings that cost me about £5 at a horticultural auction.

Ooh thanks Maud. I think hebe and lonicera would be perfect - want a variety of green tones and leaf sizes. Also bay might work? Found a pic which isn't exactly right but gives an idea of the random size thing here

Am to impatient to wait I'm afraid - it's really a bit of a wasteland and I want something in now [impatient face] Am pretty much a novice - wish me luck!

Couldn't work out why this was in gardening, so had to click... ha ha ha

Yes, bay could work. I always think of bay growing as a lollipop tree, but I'm sure you could clip and shape a multi-stemmed plant into a sphere.

Another thing that's very prunable is choisya - there's Sundance which (in my view) is a hideous yellow but Aztec Pearl is lovely. I should have thought before to link to the RHS guide to topiary. Have a look too at their guide to cloud pruning [pruning porn].

Happy gardening!

can you make a spherical frame from wire and train sweet peas or jasmine or things like that round it?

I want you to succeed so you can post pictures and you can tell your neighbours ''oh yes, my balls are admired far and wide''

(though tbh, you do sound a little ball-obssessed....)

Arfur, I promise I will do Normal Stuff elsewhere - this will only be a teeny ballsy segment of my domain.

Maud, I am now glued to RHS.com - thanks. And Aztec Pearl IS lovely.

The RHS website is the best place I've found for online gardening advice, even [cough] better than these threads!

I saw some pieris today which had been topiarised a bit. I'm not sure whether it would ever grow densely enough to make proper balls spheres but it might be worth investigating.

Well I never. The Hillier gardening club magazine (which doesn't seem to be online but Hillier's website is here) has an article entitled Thinking Outside The Box [geddit] which suggests alternatives to box. They are

Ilex crenata 'Convexa'
Pittosporum tobira 'Nanum'
Euonymus japonicus small leaved varieties, especially 'microphyllus Albo Variegatus', 'Microphyllus Pulchellus' and 'Green Rocket'
Photinia x fraseri 'Little Red Robin'
Viburnum davidii
Hebe buxifolia (aka Hebe odora) - esp 'Nana aka 'Baby Marie'
Berberis darwinii 'Compacta'

MAUD! you're fantastic!

Weirdly, i bought Baby Marie on w/e. Will look all the others up.
I've also ordered some.. privet. I know it sounds odd but the plants are 4 ft high - think I will be able to make a mahoosive globe.

Thank you, Lindsay. [preens] [or should that be prunes?]

Well, I almost fell out of bed when I opened the magazine and found that article. How very topical. I didn't mention privet because we have a hedge of it and it's dull and ugly but you're right, it should be quick and cheap to create a huuuge globe of it. Especially for a bionic woman like you.