Help needed with Buxus Plants!

Hi Everyone

I'm new here and looking for some help and advice on Buxus Plants please.

I've purchased a pair of premium quality topiary Buxus plants from Gardening Express twice in the last 2 years but can never seem to keep them looking green and healthy and want to ask for some help and advice.

The first pair of Buxus plants were purchased on the 15th January 2023 but these eventually turned brown and looked like they had died so I disposed of them and purchased a second pair on the 8th March 2025 but these eventually suffered the same fate as the first pair I purchased but I have kept them as they are.

I am using a good-sized pot to plant them in, then placing broken crockery in the bottom for good drainage and filling the pot with John Innes Multi-Purpose Compost. I have also tried using the John Innes Compost No. 2 as well as using a peat-free topsoil first in the pot followed by the compost on top of this but only did this for the first pair of Buxus plants I purchased. During the summer, I water the plants regularly, combined with using Westland's Buxus 2 in 1 Feed & Protect.

The plants do grow well to begin with, and I keep them trimmed using garden shears but find this is where I begin to encounter problems afterwards as I notice some leaves turn brown, which I remove but then it just spreads. Is Box Blight killing these plants or is it something I’m not doing right?

I don't want to keep purchasing new ones all the time but would rather find a solution to the problem and hopefully bring back to life the pair I still have. I have attached a couple of photos showing them in their current state.

Joanna

 

Agree, it looks very much like box moth caterpillar damage, the plant probably isn't dead but it is unlikely to recover as they will attack again next year.

 

Annoying but it may be better to give up with the Box if you are having the same problem each year.
As well as the Sarcococca, another suggestion would be Lonicera nitida.

 

I removed all my Box this year due to box moth caterpillar damage. Not worth battling with it. Other alternatives if you want evergreen topiary are Yew, Ilex crenata and Euonymus Green Spire.