Nearly every street I walk down in London has Box that looks like this now. You can even see one of the culprits happily munching away below. I wrote about this around 18 months ago, but it seems to be so much more visiable this year.
It’s not a pretty sight and when it’s this far gone, spraying with toxic chemicals or XenTari, a gentler organic version, just won’t do.
I’m stunned to see that so many garden centres in London are still selling Box, especially when there are so many viable alternatives. And although I wouldn’t wish this devastation on any gardener, I do see this widespread infestation as a great opportunity to increase the biodiversity in our city by planting shrubs that will attract pollinators and feed birds, while still supplying year-round interest. We may even get a nibble of some fruits too!
I still really like the idea of a Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae) hedge, with evergreen foliage and delicious small red berries as a huge bonus. Plants can be found at Edulis Nursery and they have a variegated variety too if that’s your bag. I’ve been growing one in a pot in my garden and it’s coming on well, with lots of fruits forming for this summer.
Rosemary is a lovely alternative too. Not such a tight form as Box, but evergreen, with flowers that are loved by bees and with an aromatic foliage always that’s always useful for cooking. Definitely a winner in my book.
A hedge of Chaenomeles japonica is a gorgeous thing, especially as it flowers so early in the year, bringing very welcome blooms and an early source of nectar for bees.
And it comes in this lovely deep coral colour,
and a vibrant red hue too.
I love the idea of Sea buckthorn (above) too, with its gorgeous green-green elegant foliage and nutrient-rich berries, but I’ve only seen it growing in coastal areas on very light, sandy soil, so this may not be a goer for our heavy London clay soil.
For those who still yearn for that tight, clipped look, Ilex crenata convexa is a handsome candidate and RHS Wisley has an ongoing trial of many box alternatives including Berberis darwinii ‘Compacta’, Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’ and Pittosporum ‘Collaig Silver’.
Each year, the more I espy Pyracantha berries lighting up the neighbourhood, the more I appreciate this much-maligned shrub, and although not evergreen, Rosa rugosa has joyous blooms (in pink and white), with a stonking scent,
and lovely red hips.
Or how about some gorgeous step-over apples used to define an area? You just to need to buy a whip (one year old tree bought as a bare-rooted plant in autumn) and then snip it to the height you want, anywhere from 9inches to a couple of feet, and then train the branches horizontally. A very simple, but hugely satisfying process
The alternatives to Box are endless, and as I jot these ideas down, I feel another community project coming on to replace these sad, dead specimens. By planting a host of interesting and varied shrubs, we could further green-up our neighbourhood, rejuvenate front gardens and help to increase biodiversity in our urban enclave.
P.S Following really useful comments below (thanks Anne, Camilla and Susan), for shadier areas, Box alternatives could be Sarcococca hookeriana or confusa or Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’ which can all be clipped after flowering (Sarcococcas in March and Pittosporums in May) to keep a good tight shape.
Out of my shed 
you expressed my thoughts on Box alternatives beautifully , Eunomous and Hebe should be considered too, my neighbour sprays his silly Box balls every week , that the ”designer ” put in, its daft ,a lost cause and so grim looking !
Hi Camilla, thanks for those additions suggestions. I guess it’s a balance with spraying. As mentioned in my comment below, I do use biological sprays on parterres that would be costly to replace, so we’ll just have to see how the problems with this pest develop in the future!
How many of those alternatives proposed are suitable for a shady site? As far as I know, the options listed all require full sun but I am happy to be corrected. Box of course thrives in partial shade so those of us who inherited box hedges providing structure in shady London back gardens or courtyards are grateful for the effective ( but expensive!) biological control offered by, eg, Xentari.
Hi Anne, that’s a really good point re shady spots, although Pittosporum would do well too.
Most of the dead specimens that I’ve seen n front gardens would get sun for at least half of the day, so most of the above shrubs would be ok to use.Pics of the roses, Rosemary and Chaenomeles, all taken in London front gardens, along with the Box.
And yes, I do use XenTari biological spray on some parterres in a client’s back garden that are still in good shape-so far!
A PS to my previous comment. Ilex crenata does do ok in semi shade, I concede!
Very interesting and timely article- my additional suggestions are; sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna, which can be clipped likes box in March tydoiwe ,hen the flowers and black fruits are over and you have ejoyed their scent and return each winter des It’d heavy clipping Pittosporum to thumb acts similarly Keep up your blog Best wishes Susan Lynn Sent from my iPad
>
Thanks Susan, have added your ideas to the post. V.best Naomi
A very useful article.
Lovely and interesting blog , thank you
I had to argue to get the obviously moribund box hedges taken out of the local church’s small residual gardens, which look much better without them.
On the sunny side of the now de-hedged paths, which are planted with roses, I’ve recommended lavender (particularly since the box will have left the soil very depleted, which should suit lavender very well). Rather then hedging the shadier side, which is planted with a mixture of flowering shrubs and perennials, I rather like the softer effect of using ground cover and low-level shrubs, with a few handsome donated sarcocca marking the corners.
Hi Diana, Lavender is a great idea for the depleted soil, and hopefully would fair better than if planted in our normal heavy London vlay soil. Thanks for the suggestion.
I’ve now got three Chilean guavas in my front garden. Taste of the fruit is delicious and unusual. I also have a Japanese quince, hoping that eventually I’ll get enough fruit to make jelly – also delicious. Did you know you can make a lovely fragrant jam from the hips of that Rosa rugosa? Very common in Denmark. It’s called hyben (pronounced hooben).