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looking for blight proof box hedge
steve hocking
Posts: 2
in Talkback
Can anyone help. Were looking for a box hedge preferably dark green, are first choice would of been the buxus but three nurseries mentioned the blight, so we started looking at Euonymus Jean Hugues which seemed perfect . the only thing was it has berries that are poisonous. We have a young daughter and a lot of young children living near us. Can anyone put me on the right path. Many thanks.
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Shrubby honeysuckle - Lonicera nitida- makes a good evergreen hedge Steve. It's similar in appearance to box too and can be pruned hard to keep it neat. As well as greens it comes in gold and brighter green shades. Readily available - if you take a look at some of the specialist hedge growers online, you'll get pix and prices. We're approaching 'bare root' time of year which is cheaper, although I'm not sure if it's available as a bare root plant. It will still be cheaper to buy in bulk from them though
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Try ilex crenata. It looks like box.
I have euonymus all around the garden and have never yet seen a berry on it, even when unclipped.
I would also use Ilex Crenata, probably the variety Dark Green, although it can also get berries and those are poisonous. I've never seen berries on them though.
I think it really depends on how often the hedge is clipped, because I don't think you'll see many berries on hedges which are clipped regularly.
Here in The Netherlands they had to replace 27 km! of box hedges at the palace of Het Loo because of blight, and they used Ilex Crenata Dark Green for that. That garden is open to the public, so they apparently didn't see any danger in using it there.
Many thanks all