With boxwood blight on the rise in the US, gardeners are looking for alternatives to boxwood to be used in formal garden settings such as parterres, topiaries, and hedges.
Consider dwarf yaupon holly, Ilex v. ‘Nana’. It is a tough, sun-loving plant for zones 7-10 that can be clipped precisely.
Boxwood blight is a very real threat to entire populations of boxwood, including American or common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) and the boxwood most often used worldwide in parterre, English dwarf boxwood (Buxus sempervirens suffrucitosa). 
The hedge pictured above, located in full sun, illustrates why dwarf yaupon holly was most likely chosen for this parterre at Georgia’s State Botanical Garden: full sun and hot walkways in the Deep South. It would have taken a brave and most likely foolhardy designer to have planted traditional dwarf English boxwood as the foundation of this parterre garden.
This parterre garden is clipped with a precision that is a sight to behold…a tribute to dwarf yaupon holly’s agreeable nature and especially to the professional who has been responsible for its upkeep and pruning.
Details: hardy zones 7-10, sun to partial shade, slow-growing, deer resistant