There are many dwarf cultivars on the market, some of them pretty small. Visit your favorite independent garden center to see what they have.

of course that's not your house ...

otherwise your gardener would know what to plant.. lol ...

do you understand how often these will need to be sheared.. to maintain the perfection ... maybe 3 times per year ... you up for that struggle???? ... call that 3 Saturdays a year .... maybe 4 in your zone ...

i grew up having to maintain mom and dads privets ... i swore.. never again...

just want you to understand what you are signing up for ...

spacing would be to budget.. and necessity of speed in creating the look ... it means addressing your expectations ....

fast means lots of plants close together ... high budget ...

cheaper is spacing them out and letting them fill in .. i usually say.. i have more time than money.. ..

all these considerations need to be decided.. then you worry about the plant itself ... [of course, you may have already done so]

good luck ... and come back if you need planting help ...

ken

ps: privet.. boxwood.. equivalence as to the need to be sheared ...

If you're looking for the dwarf hedge 2 ft, is the Dwarf English Boxwood. I have had lots of this hedging, easy to find. You plant about 12" apart. Shearing is minimal twice a year for the first few years. HOWEVER, I do not have most of this hedging left anymore. The picture, it died a week later. It was infected with Boxwood Blight last summer. I've thrown away over 100 plants. There is no treatment and it's very rapid spreading. If your state has Boxwood blight, I would stay away. The spraying to Prevent the blight is only available to landscapers. So the additional cost is crazy.$600 for 4 sprays, and they suggest every other week. I'm looking at alternatives...Dwarf Box leaf Euyonmus, germander, even lavender. Good luck.

This post was edited by ALL50 on Fri, Apr 4, 14 at 6:41

Never realized boxwood blight was that big of a problem until you brought it to my attention. The hedge would be fairly small, so trimming it would not been too burdensome. Plus, it's about the only thing I will have that would really require much trimming. Are there any alternatives to boxwoods for what I'm trying to do. I love lavender hedges, but I want something pretty uniform and green year-round to contrast the azaleas, which I'll allow to grow naturally.

I just planted my boxwoods and I am going to keep them around 1ft tall and wide I planted 310 plants that were 20-25cm high (7-10 inches) when I purchased them and I spaced them about 10cm apart (4 inches). My plants cost me under 300 bucks. I got them for 85 cents a plant because I bought them as bare root plants which are only available at certain times of year. The variety I purchased are regular old Buxus Sempervirens (often called English Boxwood and sometimes American Boxwood) Buxus is relatively slow growing only growing up to 6 inches (15cm) a year. They are of course susceptible to buxus blight which is a very real issue to consider. There are other alternatives to use like Lonicera Nitida which is a type of honeysuckle that resembles boxwoods when clipped neatly into a formal hedge. The downside about lonicera is that it does not like windy locations and it is very fast growing which will require more maintenance to keep it looking nice.