Five fashionable boxwood look-alikes

Hedge Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster lucidus)
Height: 200 cm
Spread: 200 cm
Location: full sun
Cultivation: tolerant of hot, dry, windy conditions and most soils
Foliage colour: dark green (summer), yellow/red (fall)
Flowers: white, in June
Fruit: black, in autumn
Zone 3

Regel's Privet (Ligustrum obtusifolium var. regelianum)
Height: up to 1.8 m
Spread: up to 2 m
Location: full sun or partial shade
Cultivation: Trim to any height
Foliage colour: olive green (summer), olive greenish-purple (fall)
Flowers: white, midsummer
Fruit: blue-black, fall
Zone 4

SOURCES
Au Jardin de Jean-Pierre: Ligustrum obtusifolium var. regelianum.

Connon Nurseries: Ligustrum obtusifolium var. regelianum; Rhododendron ‘PJM'.

Fragrant Flora: Taxus media ‘Hillii'.

Humber Nurseries Ltd.: Salix pentandra.

Jeffries Nurseries Ltd.: Cotoneaster lucidus.

Sheridan Nurseries: Taxus media ‘Hillii'.

Read more in Plants and Trees and Shrubs