Across Ireland and continental Europe, formal-garden Buxus sempervirens has collapsed under combined pressure from Cydalima perspectalis (Box moth) and Cylindrocladium buxicola (Box blight). For Office of Public Works historic gardens and Heritage Council -listed properties, this triggers a documentation question: do you replant Buxus and accept the maintenance overhead, or do you specify a documented substitute and record the change?
In practice, most estates now specify a substitute. The two credible options — Ilex crenata 'Jenny' and Euonymus japonicus 'Green Spire' — are addressed in the Buxus replacement guide. The heritage-record handling sits on top of that choice and is the substance of this page.
The standard heritage-record language frames a substitution as a plant-health intervention, not a design change:
- Substitution rationale. "Original specification: Buxus sempervirens (15 cm spacing). Substitute specified: Ilex crenata 'Jenny' (20 cm spacing) on plant-health grounds following confirmed Box moth (Cydalima perspectalis) and Box blight (Cylindrocladium buxicola) pressure at the site."
- Visual fidelity statement. "Substitute selected to maintain visual continuity with original parterre form; cultivar selected for small leaf, dense habit and slow growth consistent with the maintained parterre character."
- Provenance evidence. "All plant material to be supplied with EU plant passport (Regulation 2016/2031), retained by the garden archive for the duration of the planting cohort."
Where the garden is listed under the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage or under the OPW historic-gardens programme, this language has been accepted at multiple Irish estates since 2018. The substitution becomes part of the garden's living record.
Working format for a parterre restoration:
- Ilex crenata 'Jenny'. 9 cm P9 pot, 20 cm spacing (5 plants/linear m). 72-plant trade trays — best fit where listed-heritage records favour visual continuity with the original Buxus.
- Euonymus japonicus 'Green Spire'. 9 cm P9 pot, 25 cm spacing (4 plants/linear m). 24-, 48-, 60- and 72-plant trade trays — faster establishment, larger leaf, vigorous habit.
For a 60 m parterre run at Ilex spacing, the order is 300 plants (five 60-pack trade trays or four 72-pack trays). The coverage calculator converts run-metres into trade quantity with a wastage buffer. Source as a single parterre-pack order via PlantGift's hedge plants collection.
Walled-garden restoration is increasingly aligned with biodiversity criteria — the formal Edwardian / Victorian planting palette happened to be highly pollinator-friendly. The reliable specifying base:
- Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' / 'Munstead' — formal edge, bee forage, one summer cut.
- Geranium macrorrhizum 'Czakor' — groundcover beneath shrub roses or under climbers, dry-shade tolerant.
- Cotoneaster dammeri — low groundcover within parterre compartments, white spring flower, autumn berry.
All available as 60-pack trade trays via PlantGift's bulk plants collection. For the full walled-garden palette and Pollinator-Plan cross-reference, see the native pollinator trade spec.
Beyond the parterre and walled garden, estates routinely tender for three planting types:
- Avenue hedging. Mixed-native or single-cultivar hedge line along the entrance drive. 60-pack Euonymus 'Green Spire' or mixed-native at 4–5 plants/linear m.
- Perimeter shelter belt. Where wind exposure is high (Atlantic coast, west and south-west estates), Fargesia rufa clumping bamboo or Euonymus 'Green Spire' establish faster than traditional shelter-belt mixes and require less initial water.
- Woodland-edge groundcover. Pachysandra terminalis 'Green Sheen', Hedera hibernica or Vinca minor at 5–7/m² for woodland-edge banks and tree understorey.
