Our little box hedges seem to be almost the last of this threatened species in the neighbourhood. The box moth caterpillar or the blight has either put paid to the rest or their proprietors have despaired of their survival, rooted them out and planted one of the proposed substitutes. Rassells Nursery just across the road follows RHS advice and proposes Ilex crenata, which superficially resembles box. Some nurseries have even cooked up a cunning new name and sell the little holly as Luxus.
It has an upright growth, unlike box, but can be clipped to grow into a flat-topped little hedge that will grow (they say) no faster than box. It may not be as tolerant as box to either drought or too much moisture but is apparently subject to a nasty-sounding black root rot. Nor does it have the slightly foxy smell in the rain that some people hate (and I find part of box’s charm).
For myself, I will go on defending our box hedges, the very definition of our garden, while I can. We use moth-traps and Py spray. We pick off the caterpillars and squish them as soon as we see them. I fear it can’t go on for ever, but while we’re around our box will have all the protection we can give it.
