Better Boxwood®: Blight-Resistant Boxwoods for Southern Landscapes
Boxwoods have earned their place in Southern landscapes. They bring structure to entry gardens, define paths and terraces, soften foundations, and keep a garden composed through every season. But boxwood blight has made plant selection more important than ever.
Better Boxwood® offers a thoughtful answer: four scientifically bred, disease-resistant boxwoods, each with a distinct size and habit. The collection was developed through years of breeding and plant trials to provide designers, landscape professionals, and homeowners with stronger choices for formal and contemporary gardens.
Shop the Better Boxwood® Collection at ServeScape
What makes Better Boxwood® different?
Better Boxwood® is the first collection of boxwoods scientifically bred for resistance to boxwood blight. Resistance does not mean immunity, and good landscape practices still matter. Provide appropriate light, airflow, drainage, spacing, and sanitation. The advantage is a stronger genetic starting point paired with four useful landscape forms.
All four selections are evergreen, grow in full sun to part shade, and are suited to USDA Zones 5 through 9. That makes them practical across much of ServeScape’s Southern service area.
Meet the four Better Boxwood® varieties
Babylon Beauty™: the low, spreading choice
Babylon Beauty™ BetterBoxwood® develops a low, spreading habit with light green foliage. At approximately 3 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide, it works beautifully as a foreground layer, broad edging plant, low mass, or evergreen groundcover beneath taller shrubs.
- Best for: low layers, broad borders, slopes, foundation foregrounds, and mass planting
- Light: full sun to part shade
- Habit: spreading and low
- Growth: moderate
Heritage™: the classic hedge form
Heritage™ BetterBoxwood® delivers the familiar dark green character people expect from a traditional boxwood, but in a more compact form. Reaching approximately 3 to 4 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide, it is a natural fit for clipped hedges, entry gardens, foundation plantings, and repeating evergreen structure.
- Best for: hedges, foundation planting, garden rooms, and formal repetition
- Light: full sun to part shade
- Habit: compact and upright
- Growth: moderate
Renaissance™: the compact edging boxwood
Renaissance™ BetterBoxwood® stays low and compact, typically reaching only 1 to 2 feet tall and wide. Its dark green foliage and restrained growth make it especially useful along walks, around patios, in knot gardens, and anywhere a crisp evergreen edge is needed without constant pruning.
- Best for: low hedges, bed edging, containers, courtyards, and formal details
- Light: full sun to part shade
- Habit: low and compact
- Growth: slow
Skylight™: the taller, faster-growing option
Skylight™ BetterBoxwood® is the tallest and fastest-growing member of the collection. Its medium green foliage and upright form can reach approximately 6 to 8 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide. Use it where the garden needs more height, including medium hedges, architectural masses, screens, or shaped specimens.
- Best for: taller hedges, screening, topiary, architectural accents, and mass planting
- Light: full sun to part shade
- Habit: upright
- Growth: fast
Which Better Boxwood® is right for your landscape?
| Variety | Approximate size | Best landscape role |
|---|---|---|
| Babylon Beauty™ | 3' H × 4–5' W | Low spreading layer or mass |
| Heritage™ | 3–4' H × 2–3' W | Classic hedge or foundation structure |
| Renaissance™ | 1–2' H × 1–2' W | Low edging or compact formal detail |
| Skylight™ | 6–8' H × 3–4' W | Taller hedge, screen, or topiary |
Planting boxwoods successfully in the South
Even disease-resistant plants perform best when the site is prepared thoughtfully. Plant boxwoods in well-drained soil and avoid locations where water collects around the roots. Give plants enough space for their mature habit and airflow. Water deeply at the soil level rather than repeatedly wetting the foliage, and maintain a light mulch layer without piling mulch against the stems.
Choose the cultivar by its mature shape instead of relying on pruning to force the wrong plant into the right space. That single decision generally produces a healthier landscape with less long-term maintenance.
Quality plants, delivered with convenience
ServeScape makes it easier to build a beautiful and resilient landscape with quality plants, convenient local delivery, and a great selection from trusted growers. Browse the Better Boxwood® collection online, compare the four forms, and choose the right plant for your hedge, border, foundation, or formal garden. Your plants are then hand-delivered from our grower network directly to your home or project site.
Explore all Better Boxwood® plants available from ServeScape
Plant information and banner image provided by Better Boxwood® / Plant Development Services, Inc. Plant performance varies with site conditions, climate, and care.