>>Over the years, we have collected many, many cultivars of boxwood.

And so when boxwood blight came around in 2011, we heard about it and our first thought is that, hey, we may have something that has resistance.

And we took two truckloads of plants down to North Carolina State to be tested for box blight resistance.

>>Yes, I can't think of a garden that does not have a boxwood in it.

They're so prevalent.

But how did you figure out which ones were more resistant?

>>Well, English has been around forever.

English boxwood or Suffruticosa has been around forever.

When I was in high school, I loaded thousands and thousands of those plants on trucks to deliver from our nursery.

It was our number one plant.

And so we had plenty of those and so we put those into the tests and we found out sure enough, that they were extremely susceptible.

So susceptible that now we use it as an indicator plant that there's blight in a garden or in our greenhouse or wherever.

And that is a huge part of where we should go with boxwood blight.

We gotta get rid of the English boxwood.

>>But you've also learned through your research and trials that it's the Asian boxwood that actually have more, I'll say, resistance to blight than those of the European descent.

So, that's where you're focusing your research?

>>Yeah, just about everything that we or the survivors, the ones that we think have a future are the Asian cultivars.

And so we're moving very heavily in our program.

And the Asian cultivars just do better.

I mean, I can look right here in the landscape and these are Asian cultivars.

And this, back 20 years ago when I moved into this house, there were huge English boxwood here.

And here's a Japonica variety, which is an Asian variety, which is doing great.

>>Yeah, so it's not to get rid of boxwood.

It's let's take away what we have, which we know is susceptible and plant what, through your research we're learning, is resistant.

And so you've developed a number of cultivars >>Yes.

>>Over the years, but how do you develop something like that?

Is it just trial and error?

>>Yes, it really is.

There's no real easy way to do that.

We have a research facility down in North Carolina.

It's a three and a half hour drive.

So we do not want to introduce boxwood blight into our home gardens or into our nursery.

So we're very careful, we go down, we do our work.

We set out replicated trials where we will look at different varieties and try to figure out which ones have the best resistance to blight.

And the boxwood leaf miner also is an insect, which is a big deal.

I think we ought to emphasize too, though, that the most important thing about a boxwood is it has to look pretty.

>>Has to have your wow factor.

>>We call it a wow factor.

>>Yeah.

>>It has to look pretty.

And so that's the first thing we look at and then we look for insect and disease resistance.

>>And through that, you've developed a new generation.

>>Yes, and so we have right now, two plants in our family of plants, our NewGen family, but we have many more to come.

We will introduce two more in a couple of years.

And they all share the, >>Wow factor.

(laughs) >>Yes, the wow factor, the insect and disease resistance.

And they have to be easy to grow too.

We can't overlook that.

>>Yeah.

>>For both the nursery man and for the homeowner, they have to be fairly easy to grow, fairly low maintenance.

>>Mm hm.

In the industry, there's a need for plants that grow at different heights, different sizes, even different forms, so what do you have here?

>>I should preface that with our goal with NewGen boxwood is to create an artist's palette of many different varieties of different size, different shapes.

So now we are breeding boxwood, and we really just started that about six or seven years ago.

>>Okay.

>>So we really just are starting to get our feet wet in that.

We're looking for plants that have many different sizes and shapes.

So right here, I brought five different plants.

And most people would look at these and say, these are not even boxwood.

>>Yeah.

>>But if I look at these two, these are sort of extremes right here.

If you look at this plant and it's really tall and skinny.

It's a bean pole.

And by itself it's not very pretty, but if it fills in, I think it could be really nice.

>>Yeah.

>>And then this is an extreme dwarf plant, >>Mm hmm.

>>With small leaves and you know, it'll keep a very tight size over time and it's kind of a neat plant.

But these are just some of the plants that we're testing and everything in between.

>>Yes, these aren't finished products.

These are just, I'll say the beginnings or the middle.

>>Yes, so we are testing literally thousands, tens of thousands of different plants.

And we're very quick to throw out the ones that don't show promise, that have insect or disease resistance or whatever, and to find plants that do better.

Yeah.

>>That's fantastic.

But you're looking towards sustainability.

You're looking toward plants that are disease and insect resistant so we're not having to go out and spray.

>>Yes, absolutely.

We are looking for plants that people can plant out and have very low maintenance and do very little on.

These plants here, we prune them once a year, and other than that, there's not a whole lot of maintenance.

And we don't like spraying.

Nobody likes spraying.

>>No.

>>And so we're trying to avoid that.

>>Yes, yes.

And these are the new alternatives.

So with our NewGens here, I'll say ours, 'cause I'm part of the industry and I'm excited to be able to have these options.

You know, you've got two different cultivars that you're introducing.

>>Yes.

>>Can you tell me about what the difference is in these two cultivars?

>>Yes, so this particular cultivar here is NewGen Freedom.

It's a very fast growing, really green and compact plant.

It does require a fairly aggressive pruning to keep the shape, but really beautiful green, lush foliage.

NewGen Independence is a high-gloss leaf, a little slower growing plant, takes a snow load really nice.

Just a really nice, nice plant.

Just very classic boxwood look.

>>Good type, huh?

>>Yes, yes.

>>Excellent.

Well, you've got the momentum going, but it's so important to get it out to the homeowner.

>>Yes.

>>So what's the next steps for Saunders Brothers?

>>So we've been selling NewGen boxwood since 2018, and on a fairly regional basis, you know, mainly the Mid-Atlantic area and a little bit into the Northeast and a little bit into the Midwest.

But we were approached a few years ago by the Proven Winners brand of plants.

And so we are partnering with them, and then they are taking the plants to the market and selling them all the way to the consumer level.

>>I love this because as people are working in their gardens and they're discovering maybe they do have a problem of boxwood blight in their garden, they then can go to their garden center and purchase a plant to replace it that will be resistant to that blight.

>>Yes.

>>And that's exciting.

>>Yes, we talk about resistance.

On our tags, we say good resistance with proper care.

You cannot overlook the best management practices.

Just something as simple as mulching the plants is so important to mitigate the effects of boxwood blight.

>>Yeah, so you just don't throw these plants in the ground and walk away.

>>You do not, because we have yet to see any variety not show any symptoms at all of boxwood blight.

And I said it earlier, the English boxwood is the most susceptible.

So we're encouraging people to get rid of the English boxwood from their gardens over time and to replant with more resistant cultivars.

>>And that's a great place to end as we look toward the future, knowing that yes, you can replace it and you'll have options.

>>Yes.

>>And I thank you.

I thank you to everybody involved and for Saunders taking the lead on this.