Characterization of the Soil Bacterial Community from Selected Boxwood Gardens across the United States.

In a recent study, we observed a rapid decline of the boxwood blight pathogen () soil population in all surveyed gardens across the United States, and we speculated that these garden soils might be suppressive to . This study aimed to characterize the soil bacterial community in these boxwood gardens. Soil samples were taken from one garden in California, Illinois, South Carolina, and Virginia and two in New York in early summer and late fall of 2017 and 2018.

Rapid Decline of Soil Population in Selected Gardens Across the United States.

() poses a serious threat to boxwood, an iconic landscape plant in American and European gardens. Under the mild climatic conditions of the United Kingdom, remained recoverable in infected leaf debris after being left on the soil surface or buried for 5 years. The primary objective of this study was to determine how this fungus may be affected by the warmer summers and colder winters in the United States by sampling and baiting soil with boxwood cuttings and by on-site testing with sentinel plants.