Top alternatives to box for clipping into shapes and simple topiary (plus 3 to avoid!)

See round this beautiful private garden, as head gardener Jim Treby recommends the best shrubs for clipping into sculptural evergreen topiary and low hedges. Box (English boxwood) is the best shrub for topiary, but box blight and box caterpillar moth are damaging box in gardens everywhere. Jim names the three top alternatives to box and how to choose them. He also explains why three plants that are often recommended as alternatives to box may not work for you.

0:14 Box or English boxwood (Buxus sempervirens). The dark purple balls are Pittosporum 'Tom Thumb' (Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Tom Thumb')
0:22 The cone is box (Buxus sempervirens) and the low hedge is Japanese holly (Ilex crenata)
0:28 The lollipop shape is Viburnum tinus
0:33 Box balls on the ground, with viburnum tinus lollipops behind
0:55 Box cones, low hedge is Japanese holly, grey balls are Pittosporum variegatum (Pittosporum tenuifolium variegatum)
1:06 Box cones
2:29 English yew (Taxus baccata)
2:40 English yew (Taxus baccata)
3:00 The high clipped hedge is English yew (Taxus baccata)
3:04 The two columns are Irish yew (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata')
4:50 Pittosporum (Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Cratus')
5:06 Pittosporum 'Cratus'
5:45 Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety'
7:27 Japanese holly (Ilex crenata)
8:20 Lollipop shapes behind the box balls are Viburnum tinus
8:44 Clipped conifer hedge is Cypress leylandii (darker green) and Thuja occidentalis (paler green)

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