Buxus Skylight - Boxwood

Buxus Betterbuxus® Skylight is a new-generation hybrid boxwood, carefully selected for its fast growth, upright habit and good resistance to boxwood diseases. Its dense, bright green evergreen foliage remains attractive all year round. An excellent hedge shrub, suitable for topiary forms, it can also be grown in pots to adorn patios and entrances. Happy in sun or partial shade, it only dislikes poorly drained and overly wet soils.

Buxus Betterbuxus/Better Boxwood Skylight (= Buxus ‘HER2009B03’, family Buxaceae) is a hybrid cultivar obtained in Belgium by Didier Hermans (Herplant BVBA) as part of a breeding programme launched in 2009–2010.
The BetterBuxus® series includes four hybrids: Renaissance, Heritage, Babylon Beauty and Skylight. It results from a selection carried out by Herplant in collaboration with ILVO (Flemish Institute) for resistance to boxwood blight caused by Calonectria pseudonaviculata. The four cultivars offer complementary habits and sizes; Skylight is the largest and fastest-growing; Renaissance is very low and compact; Heritage is close to the typical B. sempervirens but denser; Babylon Beauty, with a spreading habit, has lighter foliage, smaller leaves and good adaptation to poor soils. The BetterBuxus collection received the Florall Gold Award in Belgium in spring 2021.

The Skylight hybrid boxwood has an upright bushy habit, faster growth, suitability for pruning into tall shapes and, above all, demonstrated resistance to Calonectria. It is an evergreen shrub with slightly winged quadrangular stems. Its leaves, opposite on the branches, are simple, obovate, with an entire margin, smooth and glossy. Young leaves are lighter than mature ones. Each leaf measures, on average, 2.2cm long by 1cm wide.
In open ground, mature dimensions range from 1.80m to 2.40m tall and 0.90m to 1.20m wide. In a container, the plant will be slightly smaller, depending on pot size and care. This is a very hardy shrub, down to at least -25°C, and tolerates lime well.

The Betterbuxus® Skylight boxwood is an excellent alternative to traditional boxwood, even in cold regions. In a hedge or as topiary, this shrub always displays neat growth. It is perfect for punctuating a path, framing an entrance or forming regular cones. In a pot, plant it in a draining substrate with a gravel mulch to highlight its shape. You can associate it with evergreens such as Taxus x media 'Hicksii', the silver cushions of Santolina rosmarinifolia and the fragrant groundcover Geranium macrorrhizum 'Spessart'. All these plants tolerate sun and partial shade, require moderate watering and withstand regular pruning.