More and more Toronto homeowners are seeing their well-established Boxwood plantings rapidly deteriorate. Year after year, they develop dead, brown sections and new growth appears stunted or warped.
The biggest culprits in these deteriorating shrubs are the Boxwood leaf miner and the Boxwood tree moth. These pests rely on the Boxwood as their primary food source and habitat and easily spread easily from one property to the next. While there are chemical controls to treat these pests, they are resilient and prolific, making them very hard to control and impossible to eliminate.
Once a Boxwood has succumbed to leaf miner and tree moth, they are virtually impossible to eradicate. At Toronto Horticulture, we usually recommend our clients replace their deteriorating Boxwood shrubs with a native variety that is more resilient against pests. This post introduces a few native Boxwood-like shrubs that provide a similar type of growth and can be shaped either into a formal hedge or a rounded informal shrub. Here are a few of our top recommendations.
Inkberry
Our top recommendation to clients is usually the evergreen Inkberry shrub (Ilex glabra). This evergreen shrub grows very densely and can be shaped as a topiary if desired. As a native shrub, it has the advantage of being resistant to our region’s pests and diseases.
As the name suggests, this shrub can grow small, dark berries. However, it only produces berries when both a male and female plant are present. Because only females are typically sold in stores, it is unlikely your Inkberry hedge will produce berries, so this plant is usually enjoyed more for its foliage. As it is in the same family as Holly, Inkberry leaves are thick and firm. New spring foliage has a hint of pale orange and matures to light green the rest of the year, giving it interesting visual contrast.
Inkberry shrubs are usually about 1-2 feet tall when purchased from the nursery and can grow to about 3x3 feet as its mature size. As a native plant, it doesn’t have extensive water requirements and can survive short periods of drought. Inkberry can be pruned like a Boxwood because its foliage grows so densely — you can let it grow naturally into an informal, global shape or prune it into a specific shape. Pruning is best done in the spring after two years of growth.
Sweetgale
For clients with particularly damp soil conditions, we recommend Sweetgale (Myrica gale). This is a deciduous shrub with glossy dark green to grey foliage. Its leaves also have a sweet scent when touched.
Sweetgale forms small flowers in the spring and small fruit in the summer that is enjoyed by a range of birds in the fall. Native to our region, it is resilient against pests and disease, but likes its soil moist and is not particularly tolerant to drought. Sweetgale is also a nitrogen-fixing plant, which means it will self-fertilize in moist, rich soil.
Sweetgale grows best in full sun to part shade. It grows to a mature size of 2-4 feet tall, so it’s a little taller than Inkberry. But its foliage doesn’t grow as dense as Inkberry, so it doesn’t lend itself to pruning. You will be relying on its natural form, which is more of an upright shape.
Yew
For clients with a shadier environment, we recommend the native Canadian Yew (Taxus canadensis). Yews are a long-lived, reliable evergreen that can be grown into a number of shapes and styles. It can act as a formal hedge if pruned to 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide. If left to take a more natural shape, it spreads out a bit at 6 feet tall and 8-10 feet wide. It can also be turned into a privacy screen, where its sides are trimmed to 3 feet but left to grow as tall as possible (over 6 feet). Once a Yew is established, it can grow quite quickly.
Yews do not perform well in full sun, but this makes them an excellent choice for tricky spots in tight corners or to hide utilities like an air conditioner or gas meter. Because they are native to the area, they don’t have a lot of natural pests. The Yew is incredibly long-lived (several decades) and can be a good long-term investment. Yews can be purchased quite small (1-2 feet tall) if you want to shape it yourself, but most of our clients purchase these at 3-4 feet tall if they’re replacing a Boxwood shrub and want immediate privacy.
Something that’s nice about the Yew is that it produces an interesting red fruit called an aril. It resembles a berry and provides really neat visual interest from June to September. They’re eaten by birds so they can help support local wildlife. They’re toxic if consumed by humans, however, so we just have to enjoy them from afar.
While it’s disappointing to lose a Boxwood, there are many native varieties of shrubs that can provide similar features and provide more pest resistance. We hope you’ve found this post helpful.
If you have any questions about these recommendations or have special growing conditions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us on our Contact page.