Just had to get rid of the last of my box topiary - sad day

[Buxusmortus]

I got my first box ball about 30 years ago and ended up with about 25 balls and pyramids, some in pots and most in the ground.

Over recent years they have been attacked first by box blight and then by box moth. I started digging out the worst affected ones until this year I had 3 left in pots. Two were partly blighted and one was pristine. A week later they have all been defoliated by the box caterpillars and I've made the decision to get rid of them, topiary needs to look perfect or it's pointless. I just put the last one in my green bin and feel stupidly upset, like it's an end of an era.

My garden soil is clay, some areas are better drained than others and there I've been able to replace with yew. But yew absolutely hates having wet feet so it's unsuitable for much of my garden. I haven't yet tried yew in a pot. In a very sunny south facing and relatively well drained area I've successfully grown Pittosporum Tom Thumb into a ball. Ilex crenata needs very good drainage and is no longer recommended as a box substitute.

Has anyone got any suggestions for substitutes that look good and don't mind poor drainage? Box was perfect.

You have my sympathy. I took my box hedge out a few years ago for the same reason. Strangely I have seen very little caterpillar damage in a large rural garden I look after. It seems the birds, and wasps, are beginning to eat caterpillars. There’s a really good article by Matthew Pottage called ‘Forget the Ilex crenata’
https://www.gardensillustrated.com/plants/shrubs/podocarpus-best-hedge-plant-box

@Buxusmortus My condolences. I lost my box ball this year, it was nearly 40.

Maybe try lonicera pileata as a replacement. It's a brighter green than lonicera nitida, which can be yellowish and look a bit sickly. You only have to look at cuttings and they take root. The one thing is that it grows like a bastard quite quickly so you need to keep on top of it.

Interesting that the RHS is suggesting podocarpus, as I thought it wasn't reliably hardy in the UK. Maybe some varieties are better than others, or it just does well at Wisley.

Depending if you really need to have topiary or just want a nice company shrub: I have enjoyed growing lavendula, you can keep it trimmed into a snug blob if you’re clever. And also for a larger hedge, if you’re patient, a well cropped rosemary is lovely.

Thank you for that link, he has suggested some interesting possibilities, I need to look into them.

Lonicera just grows too quickly and sends out long extension shoots, I'd have to be pruning too often I think. But thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for the suggestion. Neither lavender or rosemary grow well in my clay soil. I do want something which makes good topiary and looks as similar to box as possible and those don't, although are lovely in their own right.

@Yamadori RHS advice is to keep podocarpus out of cool, drying winds, and when I looked at a couple of suppliers their advice is to plant in a sheltered area( I never know what that means exactly). So it doesn't look like it is fully hardy which is disappointing, presumably it's fine in wisley because they will have planted it in the optimal position. I'm in South Wales and winters are usually wet and windy with the prevailing winds from the west, so not extremely cold although last winter was cold with many frosts.

Sorry to hear this. I’ve never had blight but did have caterpillars last year. I went away for two weeks and returned to one ball totally bare. Over the following weeks I picked thousands of caterpillars off my hedge and topiary.

The good news is that it bounced back incredibly quickly, within two months the foliage had completely returned. I appreciate this is too late for you but it is survivable.

Sorry to hear this. I’ve never had blight but did have caterpillars last year. I went away for two weeks and returned to one ball totally bare. Over the following weeks I picked thousands of caterpillars off my hedge and topiary.

The good news is that it bounced back incredibly quickly, within two months the foliage had completely returned. I appreciate this is too late for you but it is survivable.

I'm more familiar with podocarpus as bonsai, but the general consensus is that they are not as hardy as we would like.

How about euonymus 'green spire'?

I’ve replaced all our box with euonymus japonicus Green Spire. It’s very neat, takes a clipping and grows a bit faster than box. Flinty clay.

We have two standard box balls in our front garden, growing in soil (rural Dorset).

For the last two years we have had box moth caterpillar damage. Never had any trouble with this previously. After the first attack, last year, we reluctantly sprayed. We did get a second attack and the same again this year but the plants aren't totally stripped and have been able to recover. In fact this spring, the new growth was very vigorous.

The box moth is pretty and we've had a few come into the house but it's heart-breaking to see the damage the caterpillars can do.

There is a site where you can log where you live so the spread of box moth across the UK can be monitored. I have read that planting thyme around them may act as a deterrent and I've planted a few thyme plants.

Bay and olive can both be chopped into lollipop balls in pots but aren't as dense as box

We lost our box hedges after the third caterpillar attack when it just didn't come back.

I was at RHS Wisley yesterday and they have an advisory stand. I asked them what to replace it with and the lady said taxus baccata - yew. So after a couple of years dithering, we will be ordering that. Possibly the dwarf version mentioned in the article above.

I love that he's called Matthew Pottage - and the current President of the RHS is called Mr Weed 😊

Sorry just re-read your OP. Don't think this would work for topiary. As you were..

What about a rose hedge? David Austin have a section on ones they recommend for hedging. They thrive in clay soil