TOP plants for BALLING
Box (Buxus spp.) The champion of all topiary plants is the humble box plant. Japanese box (B. microphylla var. japonica), with its glossy green foliage, is the common choice for most parts of the country. English box (B. sempervirens) has a darker leaf and is slower growing. Both can be relied on to produce a dense covering of foliage.
Dwarf honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida)
A fantastic plant for shaping, especially if you want small balls. Very small leaves.
Murraya ‘Min-a-Min’ A dwarf form of the well-known hedging plant. Grows fairly quickly and is great for small to medium balls. Regular murrayas grow even faster and should only be used for large balls.
Native balls If you would like to use an Aussie plant, take a look at westringias, correas or one of the many lillypillies.
Silver balls Heighten the contrast in your garden by choosing plants with silver foliage, such as Teucrium fruticans, Helichrysum petiolare and westringias.
Coloured balls Plants with new growth that flushes pink or red after trimming can be used to great effect. Some of the best are the small bottlebrush Callistemon ‘Great Balls of Fire’, photinia and many of the lillypillies. Or you can enjoy year-round colour with Duranta ‘Sheena’s Gold’, golden euonymus and Alternanthera dentata.
Flowering balls Colourful shrubs, such as azaleas and camellias, can be turned into magnificent flowering balls if you time your pruning just right. The trick is to trim and shape them immediately before they start producing buds (late summer for azaleas and camellias), then not prune them again until flowering has finished. Alternatively, try escallonias or dwarf ixoras, which repeat-flower for months and are more forgiving with timing.