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Green Spire or photinia: finished height decides it

Updated: October 2026

You are looking at a low green edge and a shrub with red new leaves, and a comparison table is scoring them as if they finish at the same height. They do not. Green Spire or photinia is a finished-height decision: Euonymus japonicus Green Spire stays around 0.5–1 m, and Photinia Red Robin left unclipped is 4–8 m on the Royal Horticultural Society profile. In this amazon.co.uk set the Green Spire choice is a 6-pack at about £21.25 or one 1 litre plant at about £16.15, and the photinia is six plants in 9 cm pots at about £23.99, prices from 20 October 2026. Pyracantha is not in this pair. The [hedge plants comparison](/hub/hedges-and-privacy-screens/hedges-plants) holds all four cards. This page says when you take Green Spire, when you take photinia, and the one condition that decides it. We used the RHS profiles and those listings. We did not grow them side by side. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are looking at a low green edge and a shrub with red new leaves, and a comparison table is scoring them as if they finish at the same height. They do not.

Our top picks

Chelsea Direct Green Spire, 6 plants

Best overall

Chelsea Direct Green Spire, 6 plants
9.6/10about £21.25
View offer
Chelsea Direct Green Spire, 1 litre

Alternative

Chelsea Direct Green Spire, 1 litre
9.0/10about £16.15
View offer
Carbeth Plants Photinia Red Robin, 6 plants

Preis-Tipp

Carbeth Plants Photinia Red Robin, 6 plants
7.8/10about £23.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.When the hedge must stay low
  2. 2.When you need a screen you will keep cutting
  3. 3.Box, blight, and what the bullet does not prove
  4. 4.The condition, not a winner

When the hedge must stay low

Choose Green Spire when the finished hedge should stay around 1 m or under. The RHS profile for Euonymus japonicus Green Spire gives a maximum of 0.5–1 m, a spread of 0.1–0.5 m, full sun or partial shade, and a sheltered position. It lists two to five years to reach that size, and it says the plant is harmful if eaten, so gloves are sensible when you handle it. Both listings in this set say up to 15 cm a year and no flowers. The 6-pack is six plants at about 22 cm, about £21.25, 4.8 from 24 reviews. That is the listing to take when you want a short run of a low edge. The single plant is a 1 litre, 13 cm square pot, 24 cm of plant and 36 cm including the pot, at about £16.15, with 4.5 from two reviews. Take the single when one gap needs a named pot. Skip both if the neighbour overlooks the garden from upstairs. Waiting will not close that gap. A nursery figure of about 1.5 m for Green Spire conflicts with the RHS 0.5–1 m maximum. Prefer the RHS profile, and treat 1.5 m as a conflict, not a second ceiling you can plan a screen around.

When you need a screen you will keep cutting

Choose photinia when you will clip a plant that wants to be several metres tall. The RHS profile for Photinia × fraseri Red Robin gives an ultimate height of 4–8 m and a spread of 2.5–4 m, for hedging and screens, in full sun or partial shade. The same profile search shows hardiness H5. That H5 is the society’s rating, not a temperature printed on the amazon listing. Growth is up to about 30 cm a year. The growing guide prefers secateurs, because a hedge trimmer tears the large leaves, and it says stop after mid-August so the red flush can ripen before winter. Cold wet winters mark the foliage. The only photinia in this set is six plants in 9 cm pots at about £23.99, 3.9 from 16 reviews. The seller says about 2.5 m of run. Reviews describe small plants and tiny shoots, so six pots are a future screen, not privacy this season. The listing’s sunlight attribute is partial shade only, which is narrower than the RHS. A compact Red Robin sold by some hedge nurseries for lower hedges is not in this basket. Spacing and the August stop are on how to plant a hedge.
Chelsea Direct Green Spire, 6 plants

Testsieger

Chelsea Direct Green Spire, 6 plants
9.6/10about £21.25
View offer

Box, blight, and what the bullet does not prove

Green Spire is sold as a box-style edge because the habit is upright and evergreen, and the 6-pack bullets say disease resistant. It is not Buxus. Box blight and the box tree caterpillar are diseases and a pest of box, not of euonymus, so planting Green Spire does not host those problems in the new shrub. It also does not sterilise blight left in the soil or in the old leaf litter. Clear the dead box out anyway. The RHS box-alternatives note is frank about the substitute: euonymus can suffer dieback in cold winds, euonymus scale, and powdery mildew. Disease resistant is seller wording on one listing. The single-plant bullets do not even repeat it. They only contrast an upright habit with rounded box. One review on the 1 litre plant says the buyer used it to replace box hedges. That is one person’s job, not a soil test. Photinia is not a box lookalike. Its young growth is red, then glossy green, and it is the screen plant, not the knee-high substitute. USDA zones 6–9 on the Green Spire listings are an American hardiness print, not a translation of H5.

The condition, not a winner

There is no single winner. Take the Green Spire 6-pack if the hedge must stay low and you want six plants for a short edge. Take the 1 litre plant if you want one larger start of that same low shrub. Take the photinia 6-pack if you need a screen you will keep cutting, and you accept that the pots are small now. Skip Green Spire for anything above about 1 m. Skip photinia if you need the view blocked this season, or if you will not prune and you have no plan for a plant that can pass 2 m. The best hedge plants page is where those skips sit beside the firethorn as well. This page only settles the pair. If the job is thorns on a boundary or a wall, neither of these is the plant. Firethorn is the third species in the main comparison: a young plant at about £10.99, bullets that omit thorns, and berries on older wood.

Common questions

Which one if I want a knee-high edge?
Green Spire. The RHS maximum is 0.5–1 m, and both listings here repeat a slow increase of up to 15 cm a year with no flowers. Buy the 6-pack at about £21.25 if you want six plants at about 22 cm for a short run. Buy the single 1 litre plant at about £16.15 if you only have one gap. Photinia will not stay knee-high unless you fight a 4–8 m shrub every year.
Which one if the neighbour overlooks the garden?
Photinia, if you will keep cutting it. Unclipped Red Robin is 4–8 m on the RHS profile, so it can stand between you and an upstairs window in a way Green Spire cannot. The six plants in this set are in 9 cm pots. They will not do that job this season. You are choosing the species and a pruning habit, not an instant curtain.
Will Green Spire eventually catch Red Robin if I wait?
No. The RHS ceiling for Green Spire is 0.5–1 m, reached over about two to five years. Red Robin’s ultimate height on its profile is 4–8 m, with up to about 30 cm of growth a year if you let it. Extra seasons make Green Spire a fuller low edge. They do not turn it into a screen. A nursery line of about 1.5 m conflicts with the RHS and is not a height to plan around.
Is Green Spire a cure for box blight?
No. It is not box, so the new plant is not a host for box blight or the box tree caterpillar. The disease resistant bullet does not clean blight out of the soil or the old leaves. Clear that litter. Euonymus can still get scale, mildew, or dieback in a cold wind. One review about replacing box hedges is a use, not a guarantee.
Why does the photinia listing say partial shade when the RHS allows full sun?
The amazon attribute on this 6-pack is partial shade only. The RHS profile allows full sun or partial shade for Red Robin. The listing is the narrower line. You can follow the profile for light, and you should not claim the product page says full sun when it does not. Leaf colour and a cold wet winter are the limits that sit beside that light line.
What if a nursery says Green Spire can reach 1.5 m?
Treat it as a conflict with the RHS profile, which states a maximum of 0.5–1 m and a spread of 0.1–0.5 m. This comparison follows the RHS figure. Do not add the nursery metre onto a screen plan, and do not average 1.5 m with Red Robin’s 4–8 m. If a supplier’s plant is a different euonymus, it is not these two ASINs.

Related pages

Hedge plants buying guide

Hedge plants

Best hedge plants: low edge, screen, and who skips

How to plant a hedge: soil, spacing and nest check

Pyracantha hedge: thorns, berries and a young start

Sources

Public UK sources named below. amazon.co.uk prices, stars and review counts are from the four listings in this comparison. Page updated 21 October 2026.

  1. RHS, planting a hedge (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  2. RHS, Photinia × fraseri Red Robin (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  3. RHS, Photinia growing guide (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  4. RHS, Euonymus japonicus Green Spire (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  5. RHS, pyracantha growing guide (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  6. Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, section 66 (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  7. GOV.UK, high hedges: complaining to the council (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  8. Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1 (retrieved 21 October 2026)