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| The house I bought has four boxwoods in front that have been left to themselves for decades. They are now about twenty feet tall and I would like them to be five or six feet tall. Is this attainable or do they need to be removed and replaced with new? |
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| Yes, you can cut box at any point on the stem and it will keep growing. The only problem you can expect doing it now is burning of the foliage right below the level you cut them to. This will look bad at first but should be overcome in time, the shrubs eventually becoming all green again. If you want to minimize the potential for this wait until next year and prune earlier in the season. Or you could cut them to the ground and have them start over from the base, with all new foliage. Might, however take something like 10 years for them to again be 5'-6' tall if this is done. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Jun 27, 10 at 7:53
| my only caveat.. is that they might be really ugly for years to come ... i guess i would.. deferring to bboy .. cut them near to the ground.. but i also warn.. the happiest day in the life of my first house.. was when i got rid of all the prior owners problems.. i spent 5 years trying to renovate all the problems... and frankly.. it was a waste of 4 years ... what a nightmare ... now.. you have more than one.. in my world.. cut one to near the ground [get a better explanation of this if you are thinking bout it] ... cut one to 5 feet.. and get rid of the last.. and replace it with a new one.. if boxwood is the best you can do ... come late fall.. then decide which system is preferred.. and either trim the other two ... or get rid of them ... think outside your box.. what could you do with that space .... if you just got rid of these overly mature ugly huge plants??? will it change the entire tapestry of the garden and the house??? sometimes there is a big divergence between what CAN BE DONE.. and what SHOULD be done.. i would like to see a picture .... ken PS: if these.. in any way.. interfere with the street view of the house.. be done with them.. and redo the prime siting of your new house ... i do NOT prefer renovation projects near the front door ... its one thing to do it out in the back 40 ... but your front door says it all ... |
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