Buxus sempervirens (box)

Counts of tree rings indicate that the shrubs in ‘Gamlehagen’ at the Store Milde farm were planted before 1680. Three different varieties of boxwood are found here. One was probably the " Pyramidetræer " mentioned in a property valuation from 1766. Another probably bordered the garden as a low hedge. The most recent, perhaps planted around 1800, is the same variety as used in the broderie gardens of clipped box hedges in front of the Palace of Versailles.

Low hedges of clipped boxwood were fashionable among Bergen citizens from the late 1600s until well into the 1800s. In the city's cemeteries, boxwood hedges around the burial sites still testify to this custom.

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