Boxwood pruning in summer, how to cut back a big boxwood summer vs winter 

Thanks so much for showing a pruning job that usually scares people. I have cut back much smaller shrubs, to keep them in line with the foundation as they were originally planted, instead of allowing them to cover the foundation completely. They look very bare after pruning, but every one of them came back beautifully. Early spring or late winter works best and by the beginning of summer you can see big growth, and by the end of summer you are usually sorry you didn’t cut more. The problem for me is the debris that is left over after pruning. There is a lot of it, and bagging it and taking it to the landfill is no easy task.

Thank you for giving me the confidence to drastically prune my overgrown boxwoods!

I did not know Rudy Guliani pruned shrubs too!

He’s the best. Listening to IN THE GARDEN radio show I’ve Learned a lot. Thanks

I JUST read a gardening article saying you should never hard prune a boxwood and that they didn’t do well with it….this is why gardening is so miserable and gives me a headache. Everyone comes from a different “school” 😂Seeing yours come back has given me confidence to cut mine back. They don’t look so hot, so it’s a last ditch effort!

Thank you so much for this! I was worried I would harm my overgrown boxwoods. I’m looking forward to a relaxing workout in my front garden this March! 🌱🌿

Oh wow. I had NO idea I could cut boxwoods back that far! I actually dug several up and planted new ones. Now, I know.

I did this to a 25 year old boxwood hedge (20 bushes) that was overgrown and woody inside. It took me three weeks during our mild Southern California winter. Now in mid March, there is a lot of new growth coming in fast! I wanted them to recover before our desert summer heat arrives.

Thank you, particularly for the tip about doing a notch cut on the wrong side first, and for showing how the hard pruned bush has recovered. That was very reassuring before I start on my two overgrown box bushes. One extra tip if anyone wants a Box hedge? I normally take nearly all the cut off bits, strip the bottom, leaving just a few leaves at the top of a piece about 4 or 5 inches long, dip in hormone rooting powder, then put them a couple of inches apart in old sinks etc. They nearly all grow really well, into new box bushes ready to be a hedge later on.

OMG! Thank you thank you thank you for showing us your technique! I have boxwood that have grown up midway of my windows in the front of my house and although they are beautiful, it poses a security risk not being able to see outside. I started pruning them back with electric shears to a better height, and shaping them in the front, but they looked horrible afterwards. I though I was gonna be stuck with having to uproot them. Thanks for sharing that I can shear harder on them to get them under the windows!

Love hearing the birds,,,🕊🕊🕊

Thanks for the guidance! We have 2 overgrown boxwoods in our front garden that are getting trimmed pronto! 😸

Great demonstration and instructions. Thank you!

I’m taking my chances and doing this 😅. Thanks. I’m always fearful trimming below the green part!

I think we went to the same school because i have learned the same thing. Bravo to you for showing what to do and the results of it.

I like this fellow, he's no slouch, or pansy, NO GLOVES! If he was in England, I would drink beer with him, any time. Thank you Captain, and peace be unto you.

I love this video and have watched it multiple times. Hoping NY heavily pruned boxwoods come back now! 🤞

Can I still heavily cut back our boxwoods in September or should we wait until next year? Thanks!

We have a 45 year old boxwood hedge that is yearly squared off, but never had the dead wood removed. I'm doing that now in july. It is hollow in the center and has a lot of center new growth just waiting for the sun. Maybe next year I will cut it all back and shorter.

Excellent job. Doing this for yourself is one thing. A paying customer not so much. Remove and replace for instant gratification.

OMG! I would never ever think to cut it back that much. what kind of boxwood is this? its huge.

I have a huge old boxwood in my front lawn that's about 10 feet tall and during the winter, the snow broke open the boxwood and it now gets sun inside of it. Sadly, the only thing growing from having gotten sunlight is WEEDS! Lots and lots of weeds! I actually didn't mind that it had grown so tall seeing that it's surrounded by lawn and at the corner of my home's lot. After it broke, I figured I should have maybe somehow tied the limbs in the center together prior to the snow but because it had gone through many, MANY YEARS of harsh winters and never slit open, I didn't think it would need it! I was hoping that it would sprout and fill in but like I mentioned, all that filled in were nasty prickly weeds that grow taller than the actual boxwood if I don't go in and try and cut them down several times during the summer. THEN, I asked my lawn guy if he would trim all of my boxwoods one summer and when I came out after he'd been at it for a while, I saw that he cut the elder boxwood back hard, exposing the large limbs. I hadn't asked that he cut that particular boxwood back, just the ones in front of my home but it was too late! I actually didn't think before seeing THIS video that you could even cut back an old boxwood hard like that because I'd seen where boxwoods didn't recover and all that was left were naked limbs that never rebounded d! Well, it's been about a year now and unfortunately my old boxwood now looks terrible, with green atop and tall, and naked large limbs below with all types of weeds growing in between! So now, I'm trying to figure out a way to somehow cut back and shape it where the top limbs can be architecturally styled and then add other shorter shrubs around the base of it to make the cut back look deliberate. I've gotta do something and it's too expensive for me to replant that whole area right now so...If anyone happens to read this and has some ideas, or sites where I can see examples of this having been done, I'd greatly appreciate you sharing with me where to go get some inspiration.

Very Good ! Thank you for the lesson! 😁

I echo the positive comments, great video. I have some out of control boxes at our church. Was going to wait until October to trim back. (Gulf Coast). What king of saw are you using please? Thanks for the good instruction!

Well done about ready to go to town on my front landscape in nashville

This extreme cutting is exactly how bonsai works. Good stuff

Good job, excellent information 👏

Absolutely loved the video. Thanks for the confirmation on what I felt to be true about these plants!

I think pruning back that hard would make most customers think you butchered their bushes (fine for your own @ home) I think I will just lightly cut back & shape the ones I'm working on very informative though 👍

I have been wondering if l could cut them back like you did. Lots of winter kill. That's great to know. Thank you so much.

What variety of Boxwood is it? Thank you.

Wow!!! Loved your video!! You made me smile from ear to ear! I just had mine cut way back. I’ll let you know if they return!

I see your 💈 did a great job on your hair cut 👍

what variety this boxwood is? I always thought boxwood is slow growing. thanks

Pretty impressive..this is what I need to do spring 2024, also to my spruce, I have seen a beautiful spruce tree come straight up from a ground root I cut back years ago. Thank you.

Thank you. Now to go prune mine!

I recommend stihl battery operated hedge clippers for most pruning and also their gta 26 hand held chain saw for the larger branches to do pruning around the house. What used to take me two days now takes about 4 hours and I’m not even tired when I’m done. No, I’m not associated with the company, just got too old for loppers and full sized chain saws.

I did this and my hedges look like they are dead for 2nd year. I was afraid I used to much fertile and killed them. They are now starting to show some signs of coming back. Not sure if I they can be fertilized now or which fertilizer is best to use. Should they be mulched heavy? There is no mulch presently under them.

It’s nearly August and 90 degrees. When should boxwoods NOT be drastically cut back? Thanks for your video.

Thank you, great video

Wow, good information to know! Thanks for sharing your knowledge & skill, I appreciate it so much!

Wow. That looks great. Can’t imagine why I wouldn’t want to do this?

Very helpful! Thanks!

Wow, glad I saw this one. Thanks

Great video!

This is great info! The thing is, I live in a townhouse community where the grounds people basically prune to round out shapes, year after year with no eye toward actual care and esthetics, or preservation of the landscaping that is nearing 40 years old. I did brave clipping back one boxwood next to my door pretty severely a couple years ago and it recovered really well all things considered. However a couple of other nearby boxwoods have some sort of blight or die back that is never addressed and is probably being spread throughout the entire community with each pruning session. Any advice regarding possible treatment to save those shrubs, other than my clipping out dead sections until the plants finally give up the ghost?

How long does it take for boxwoods pruned around March 20th to start showing signs of coming back?

Very good information. Great video. Thank you.

when you remove taht much foliage, is tghere enough left to gather the sunlight?

I am about to do this. What do yours look like now a year later?

What variety are these boxwoods? I thought the only grow up to 5 ft.

thank you for sharing this

Okay, it's been two years. I want to see what these boxwoods look like after all of that hard pruning!

It is much easier and faster if you use some twine to tightly tie the bush together a few inches above where you want to cut, then use good electric or gas hedge pruners. Shear off the top, then use hedger to shear up the sides to the size and shape you want.

Can we get an update video

Never let this guy and his shears into your town. He hates Boxwoods. 😅😂

Hi I have a few boxwoods that I need to shape. Can Shape Them any time of year and maybe if it’s in the late summer is there anything I can do like watering or feeding them to help them after shaping them? They aren’t 6 feet tall lol but they had been just shaped on the outside and not thinned so the insides have no leaves and there are bald areas

It’s Aug 2022. Any chance you can do an update video?

This may work in places where things grow well and green, but if you live in the Sonoran Desert (Tucson/Phoenix), do NOT prune Boxwood in late Spring or Summer when our temps are 105-115F degrees. They will die. Here in desert our Boxwoods don't grow that tall, we use them as hedges and the tallest one I've seen is maybe around 3-4 feet tall max.

That was crazy...lol...I had no idea that you can cut boxwoods to that degree and have any chance of recovery...Im inspired...😃

Hell No.... goodluck on gettin your shape back after this Hack... shouldve just cut em down... i cant watch anymore.. haha looks like the ones i did today only they were beautiful when i got done with em today didnt have to wait 3 years

Also a hint if this home is for sale, I’m guessing there’s a underground oil tank under the boxwoods

It’s September in coastal South Carolina. Do you think we could do a hard prune now and still be ok? Or should we wait?

The real workout begins when you got to drag off all those cuttings. You forgot to mention , that those folding pruning saws cut on the pull stroke.

Доброго вам дня.В каком месяцк вы зделали иакую обрезку?!

Can you prune hollies this much? I have steed Hollie’s that are 7 feet tall!

Dried Boxwood is indeed very hard. If you know any woodworkers, they might want the bigger pieces. It makes excellent chisel and screwdriver handles, its used to make small wooden planes and on certain types of larger wooden planes its inlaid in wear areas and then called a boxed plane.

Thank you I was worried I cut it back too much

10:53 I live in Central Virginia and have several huge boxwood. I would like to severely prune these can I do this this month October or November?

Thanks….. so if pruned now March …I’ll see new pretty green growth in 2 months … heading back today to give it another wack..

Question. A new home here in East Texas. Its high Summer and 100°. I need to do this so badly. Is it bad to just go way down the trunk and get all that out at once? Its about 8 plants all intertwined and covering windows and up to the brickwork on the side.

When is a good month to cut them down in Minnesota ? Midwest, it is already begening of July, I hope I had seen this earlier in the year.

請問那是什麼植物？

Could have made some nice topiaries?

You are awesome

Good job sir

What type of boxwood are those?

If you want to reduce the height of the plants, why do you waste time and effort pruning them high only to later cut them lower?

Now I have time to tackle the 60 year old bush in my yard. So need to find a video where it's a bit slower.

Could I do this in late summer?

how about a video on what they look like now

What about the 1/3 rd rule?

What is your zone please. I have some I want to prune. My husband is going to have a heart attack when I do haha. But they are to big. I’m zone 6b, southern Indiana.

Blooming heck! Id hate to see what he would have done to these plants in March.

Do you have any Holly pruning videos?

I have massive box plants that I need to cut back. guess I found this at just the right time of year. I dont think I have big enough cutters tho. I do have a hand saw tho.

Perfect example at the end

Would you do the same for all arborvitae

Does that work with any boxwood variety?

That is exactly right.

Its been 2 years...where's the update?

What brand of handsaw are you using?

4:38 I can't imagine trimming 1000 boxwoods to be able to quote a statistic of 99.9% recovering.

The plant is like cut your fingers off does that hurt

Will this method work on pines? If so, what season should I start?

Look like american box..

Why not either move it or get rid of it & plant something that doesn't get as large? Sort of a waste of time to prune something that will grow back just as large.

I find the farm up the road a bit but close.

I would get fired if I did that kind of pruning 🙂

You just have to be ok with your yard looking like hell for awhile, I guess... :( Why not start trimming it back all the way around, so much at a time, so it does not have to look so awful??? Yes, it may take longer, but at least you wont have such a drastic looking yard to look at for a few years, right? Yes, it came back fine, I agree... But I just hate to take a plant that far down, and start it over... Yes, the best thing would to have been keeping up on trimming it back yearly, so you have more control over the size and height, but some people just don't do it or have a good enough gardener who knows how to do it...