Boxwood

In 1966, A. G. Smith, Jr. wrote a small guide on the maintenance of boxwood for The Robert E. Lee Memorial Association. Expertly illustrated by Walker Muse Allard, The Boxwood at Stratford Hall was dedicated to The Garden Club of Virginia who restored the boxwood garden in the early 1930s.

By 1933, a beautiful, formal boxwood garden was achieved to the east of the Great House. The Garden Club had searched diligently to locate suitable specimens of English dwarf and American box - approximately 3000 in all. From the date of planting to 1961, hundreds of the boxwoods died despite numerous treatments and tremendous efforts by the garden staff. The losses continued until nearly all of the large dwarf box in the center oval and walk were gone. It was at this time that Gerald Allard, then Head Gardener and later Superintendent for Historic Buildings and Grounds, and Professor Smith combined their efforts to solve the boxwood problem at Stratford.

The book written by A. G. Smith is extremely readable and full of amusing quotations. Chapter headings include: Advice From The Experts (It is better to know nothing than to know what ain't so), A Promising Start (Hope is generally a wrong guide, though it is very good company by the way), Anxiety Grows (Nothing if life is more remarkable than the unnecessary anxiety which we endure, and generally occasion ourselves),The Nematode Scare (An error is the more dangerous in proportion to the degree of truth which it contains), Fatal Steps (I only assisted natur', Ma'am, as the doctor said to the boy's mother, arter he'd bled him to death), and Rest And Recovery (Rest is sweet after strife).

Professor Smith's remedy for boxwood recovery was a very simple one:

• Stop all mulching, feeding, fumigating, heavy watering, spraying for diseases and discontinue use of all nematocides.
• Remove all covers from the boxwood.
• Cut off the low-hanging limbs over these plants to admit more sunlight.
• Clean out the tangled English ivy and periwinkle from the boxwood hedges around the parterres.
• Stop all digging and edging where new feeder roots might grow.
• Thin closely-grown boxwood plants.

Starting in 1961, twenty-six large dwarf boxwood, eight large American box and a number of smaller specimens were transplanted to the missing places in the East Garden and around the Great House. By 1965, all of the new box was growing normally and even the old, much-abused plants appeared to be recovering. Stratford was no longer killing its boxwood with kindness. According to A. G. Smith, "One could almost imagine that he heard the boxwood give a sigh of relief."