I'm sure this is a dumb question, but why should we be reluctant to use boxwoods next to a patio?

They can have an odor. Some people dislike it and some don't care - I happen to like it, but I don't live next to a boxwood, either. Not all cultivars are as strongly scented as others. Check around and see if the one you want to use is obnoxious to you. Bear in mind that the scent, if any, will stronger in the heat of the summer than in the coolth of spring.

I happen to like the smell. It's probably one of those childhood memory things. However, finding a boxwood that is hardy to zone 5 and smells isn't something I've managed to do so far. My Korean boxwoods sometimes has a bit of an aroma sometimes when it's really hot, but it isn't predictible.

For our area, a couple of further considerations:

Box - essentially disease and pest free. May have some winter dieback in dry years.

Euonymus - prone to scale and bacterial galls. Likewise can have some winter dieback.

The box is going to be denser, fuller. The euonymus is going to be somewhat faster growing. The box will have a finer texture, overall, than most euonymus selections.

Reliable Mid-west box selections, such as Winter Gem and Green Velvet, have very little smell, to my nose.

brian

I'll bet you could also come up with many other options by just looking through this forum. I really don't care for Euonymus. I think the combination of the thoughts of the invasive species (fortunei and alata in my area) and the memories of the many Euonymus I've seen just eaten up with scale and galls is enough to make me want to avoid all Euonymus.

I just yanked (2) of (3) Euonymus Fortunei Green & Gold shrubs from my front arrangement last year.

They've never been a favorite of mine, but were planted by the home builder.

It took me (5) years to learn to prune them (heavily) so that I could even halfway appreciate its look.

Then they got scale ... and I haven't been able to back it off.

Way past time for them to go.

I've still got an Emerald Gaiety that's climbed up the side of my garage that I'm hoping to save.

I'm not optomistic, though.

For a 2' box substitute you would use small-leaved cultivars of E. japonicus (in a suitable climate) rather than E. fortunei. The odor of B. sempervirens can be pretty assertive but it is also true that even here under our mild conditions the euonymus seem to be less reliable, with crown gall sometimes seen and weevil damage (rather than scale, in this instance) being frequent.

Thanks for all your advice. That is why I posted the question, and I will definitely go with the boxwood. It's nice to have opinions from people who have experience with the little shrubs.

Alos if you have a deer problem, deer eat my euonymus and not my boxwood!

chiming in late on this useful thread--in our area, USDA 6a/6b, there's a lot of struggling box, including my front yard, and euonymus Japonica and fortunai are basically indestructible. I'll have to keep an eye out for diseased plants but really I've been eyeing these hardy guys for a year and not one has seemed anything less than vigorous. I've rooted cuttings from a very old specimen on the grounds of an abandoned mansion, they're happy as clams and have put out new leaves a few weeks in. I harvested some fortunai silver king from the church lawn (yes, growing in a mowed lawn). "gas station" plants or no, they've won me over!

2 weeks ago I removed 6 Euonymus shrubs planted in my backyard by the previous owner, I couldn`t get rid of the powdery mildew
this is something you want to consider, they are notorious to acquire
P Mildew

Does Ilex glabra grow where you live?

Powdery mildew is awful ... I've torn out a ton of creeping jenny for harbor ing it. Thanks for the warning!

Ilex glabra does very well up here in RI, Dave--it's tends to grow larger and more openly than box but I've never seen anyone try to treat it that way --- it's a beautiful plant though! I think its a U.S. native.