banner background with beatiful hicks yew

Explore All Boxwood Hedges and Alternatives

Bring timeless beauty and year-round greenery to your landscape with our selection of premium boxwood hedges. Whether you're looking for a classic formal hedge or a natural privacy screen, we have the perfect variety for your needs.

Quick Product Links

3 Boxwoods & 3 Substitutes

Green Mountain Boxwood Buxus 'Green Mountain'
Common Boxwood Buxus sempervirens
Schmidt Boxwood Buxus sempervirens 'Schmidt'
Teton Firethorn Pyracantha 'Teton'
Hicks Yew Taxus x media 'Hicksii'
Euonymus japonicus 'Green Spire'Green Spire Euonymus

Boxwood Hedges

While alternative hedges offer unique benefits, boxwoods remain unmatched in elegance, versatility, and classic beauty. Their dense, evergreen foliage and ability to be shaped into formal or natural hedges make them a landscaping favorite for generations.

Why Choose Boxwood?

Evergreen & Year-Round Beauty: Boxwoods keep their rich green color in all seasons, providing structure and interest even in winter.

Timeless Elegance: Whether sculpted into topiaries or used as a clean hedge, boxwoods elevate any landscape with their refined appearance.

Low-Maintenance & Adaptable: Tolerant of pruning and shaping, boxwoods can be maintained as a formal or natural hedge to fit any garden style.

Deer-Resistant & Drought-Tolerant: Once established, boxwoods require little maintenance and are naturally unappealing to deer, making them an easy-care choice.

Versatile for Any Landscape: From garden borders and foundation plantings to grand estate hedges, boxwoods can be used in countless ways to enhance your outdoor space.

Preserving the Boxwood Tradition

Despite challenges like Boxwood Blight and pest pressures, selecting resilient varieties and following best care practices allow boxwood hedges to continue thriving. Certain cultivars, like Buxus 'Green Mountain', show increased resistance, making them excellent choices for those who love boxwoods but want a more robust plant.

Choosing the Perfect Boxwood

Wide view of a nursery showing neat rows of young evergreen Green Mountain Boxwood in pots, stretching into the distance with greenhouses in the background.

Green Mountain Boxwood Buxus 'Green Mountain'

A refined, upright boxwood with a naturally pyramidal form, Green Mountain Boxwood delivers year-round color and structure. Bred in Canada for cold tolerance, it maintains a deep evergreen hue through the seasons. Its elegant, conical shape makes it a standout choice for formal accents, topiaries, or neat hedges, all with minimal pruning. This cultivar thrives in a range of conditions and is both hardy and low-maintenance, making it a favorite for landscapes that demand beauty and reliability.

Cold-Hardy & Resilient: Bred for superior hardiness, tolerating cold climates where many boxwoods falter.
Naturally Pyramidal Form: Upright, cone-shaped growth reaching about 4‐5 feet tall and 2‐3 feet wide, ideal for stately hedges or sculpted topiary shapes without intensive shearing.
Easy Care: Slow to moderate growth and dense habit mean low pruning needs. Adaptable to sun or partial shade and well-drained soils. Highly deer and rabbit resistant for trouble-free performance.

Learn More

Close-up side view of a tall, densely planted Common Boxwood hedges row with lush green foliage, neatly trimmed and growing in cultivated soil.

Common Boxwood Buxus sempervirens

The timeless Common Boxwood is the gold standard of evergreen hedges and topiaries, known for its versatility and enduring appeal. This broadly rounded shrub has graced gardens for centuries – from classic European parterres to modern foundation plantings – thanks to its dense foliage and adaptability. Whether allowed to mature into a substantial shrub or kept neatly trimmed, Common Boxwood provides year-round structure, lush greenery, and a dependable backdrop that elevates any landscape design.

Classic Versatility: The original landscape boxwood, valued for use in formal hedges, border plantings, and intricate topiaries. It's easily pruned into virtually any shape, making it a staple of traditional garden design.
Robust Size & Form: Naturally grows into a dense, rounded form about 3‐5 feet tall and wide (can reach 8‐10+ feet if left untrimmed over decades). Provides substantial screening or can even be trained into a small evergreen tree for stately accents.
Proven Landscape Performance: Hardy in Zones 5‐9, Common Boxwood is a long-lived, reliable performer. It offers moderate growth and minimal pest issues when properly cared for, rewarding professionals and home gardeners alike with its enduring beauty and structure.

Learn More

A rectangular nursery tray containing multiple upright evergreen shrubs with glossy, dark-green leaves, MiniHedge ready for planting.

Schmidt Boxwood Buxus sempervirens 'Schmidt'

Schmidt Boxwood is an exceptional American boxwood selection prized for its vigorous growth and winter endurance. This upright oval shrub quickly forms a lush, evergreen hedge that retains rich green color even in harsh climates. Its fast yet controlled growth (for a boxwood) and strong cold tolerance make it a go-to choice for landscapers seeking a sizable, hardy hedge in less time. With a classic look and notable resilience, Schmidt Boxwood shines in formal and foundation plantings where reliability is paramount.

Fast Establishing Hedge: One of the faster-growing boxwoods (about 4 inches of growth per year), reaching near 5 feet tall in 10 years. Fills in quickly for a dense privacy screen or border.
Superior Winter Color: Glossy deep-green foliage holds its color all winter long, even in exposed or cold Midwestern climates, avoiding the bronzing seen in many other boxwoods.
Pest and Deer Resistance: Unpalatable to deer and rabbits, ensuring plantings stay intact. Performs best in sun to partial shade with well-drained soil, and responds well to regular pruning or shearing.

Learn More

Boxwood Alternatives

Why Consider Boxwood Alternatives?

Boxwoods (Buxus) are a timeless favorite in landscaping, valued for their dense foliage, year-round greenery, and ability to be shaped into beautiful hedges and topiaries. However, they are not always the best choice for every situation. Whether due to climate, disease concerns, or biodiversity, exploring boxwood alternatives can help create a more resilient and low-maintenance landscape.

Challenges with Boxwoods

Climate Limitations: While boxwoods are hardy, some varieties struggle in regions with extreme winter conditions, leading to damage or poor growth.

Fragrance Sensitivity: Some boxwood varieties emit a distinct scent, often compared to cat urine. While this isn't noticeable in most settings, it can be a drawback in fragrance-sensitive areas like outdoor dining spaces or event venues.

Pests & Diseases: Unfortunately, boxwoods are increasingly affected by Boxwood Blight and the Box Tree Moth, both of which can cause severe damage, leading to plant loss in many regions.

Biodiversity & Sustainability: Large plantings of a single species can increase the risk of widespread disease and pest infestations. A more diverse selection of plants supports pollinators and ensures a healthier, more resilient garden.

Understanding Boxwood Blight

What Is It? Boxwood Blight (Calonectria pseudonaviculata) is a fungal disease that primarily affects Buxus, Sarcococca, and Pachysandra. It spreads rapidly and causes leaf drop, decline, and eventual plant death.

How It Spreads: The disease spreads through spores carried by water splashes, tools, clothing, and even animals. It thrives in humid conditions and is particularly challenging to manage in gardens with overhead irrigation.

Can It Be Prevented?

Strict sanitation (disinfecting tools and avoiding infected plants)
Preventative fungicide treatments (though not always 100% effective)
Choosing naturally resistant varieties (Buxus 'Green Mountain' shows some tolerance)
Best Solution: Plant disease-resistant alternatives that do not host Boxwood Blight

Choosing the Boxwood Alternative

Cluster of upright Hicks Yew hedges displaying dense, needle-like foliage in a rich blue-green hue, creating a compact wall effect.

Hicks Yew Taxus x media 'Hicksii'

An elegant evergreen hedge solution that outshines boxwood in challenging spots. Unlike traditional boxwoods, Hicks Yew thrives in shaded areas and reaches greater heights, creating a lush, vertical screen. Its narrow, columnar form and fine, dark-green needles provide year-round structure and beauty. Highly versatile and hardy, this yew tolerates cold climates and pruning, making it a standout choice for professional hedges or foundation plantings.

Deep Shade Tolerance: Excels in full shade to part sun – an ideal choice where boxwoods often struggle.
Year-Round Interest: Fine textured evergreen foliage holds its color through winter, and female plants produce ornamental red berries that attract birds.
Easy to Shape: Responds well to pruning and shearing for neat, formal lines, yet maintains a naturally low-maintenance habit.

Learn More

Long Teton Firethorn hedge covered in vibrant orange berries, with an inset close-up of small white blossoms that appear before the berries form.

Teton Firethorn Pyracantha 'Teton'

A vibrant boxwood alternative that brings both security and seasonal drama to landscapes. Teton Firethorn offers features boxwood hedges can't: abundant white blossoms in late spring followed by a profusion of bright orange berries that persist into winter. This thorny, fast-growing evergreen shrub forms a dense barrier – perfect for privacy with a splash of color. Its adaptability to various conditions and low upkeep needs make it a favorite among professionals seeking a hardy, ornamental hedge.

Multi-Season Beauty: Covered in clusters of small white flowers in late spring (a magnet for pollinators) and brilliant orange-yellow berries each fall that linger through winter for superb color and interest.
Natural Security: Stiff branches armed with sharp thorns create an impenetrable hedge for privacy and security. The spiny foliage also deters deer and other unwelcome browsers.
Evergreen & Vigorous: Retains glossy dark-green leaves year-round for constant screening. Grows quickly (up to ⁓8" per year) and can be easily maintained as a 3‐8 ft tall hedge with minimal pruning.

Learn More

Several narrow, columnar evergreen Green Spire Euonymus shrubs with shiny leaves, grouped in a rectangular pot creating MiniHedge size for easy hedging or accent plantings.

Euonymus japonicus 'Green Spire' Green Spire Euonymus

A fast-growing, columnar evergreen that provides the formal look of boxwood with greater height and resilience. 'Green Spire' Euonymus shoots up into a slender living spire, perfect for narrow hedges or tight spaces where boxwoods fall short. Its lustrous dark-green leaves stay year-round, forming a tidy, low-maintenance screen. Equally at home in upscale landscapes or backyard gardens, this selection shines with its toughness – tolerant of heat, salt, and pruning – all while maintaining an elegant, tailored appearance.

Tough & Low Maintenance: Thrives in diverse conditions – tolerates full sun to part shade and is both heat and humidity hardy. Notably tolerant of coastal exposure and road salt, making it useful in urban or seaside landscapes.
Easy Care Elegance: Low-maintenance once established; resistant to black walnut toxicity and generally pest-free. 'Green Spire' delivers a neat, luxurious look with minimal effort, offering a worry-free alternative to boxwood hedges.
Rapid & Reliable Growth: Establishes and fills in fast – a instant hedge solution compared to slow-growing boxwood. Responds well to trimming, though its upright habit needs little pruning to keep its shape.

Learn More