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Hi,
I have 3 overgrown evergreen Boxwood in front of my windows that I would like to get it trimmed up. Do you think trimming/prunning would kill them?

Thank you!

No, they can handle a very severe pruning. I cut some back at church last year in the spring. There wasn't much green left on them when I was done. It took a month or so but they came back green and this year they are a much more manageable size. I was prepared to replace them if I needed to, they were way overgrown for the space. Cutting them back was a lot easier than digging them out and replacing them. I probably did it in early May last year, they'll come back even if you do it this late in May or early June. Otherwise I'd wait until late winter to do it. If you go too late in the grown season you won't have much green on them for the winter.

I don't recommend pruning anything that severely. Using remove no more than 1/3.
We have boxwood--rounded and one pyramid. They do need regular pruning several times a season.
They hold the shape nicely, too.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: M-ma,

I've done it in the past with no ill effects. A bush like a lilac or a crepe myrtle I'd take a third at a time cutting out the oldest branches. But I've taken boxwoods, hawthorns and other bushes back pretty severely and the next year they are fine.

Flowering shrubs should be trimmed after they bloom for the year as they typically bloom on new growth from the previous summer.

And in order to paint a house one year, we cut them to just stumps. The next year, you couldn't tell they had ever been cut!
It will most likely depend on your variety and your weather.
Just expect them to look kind of tacky for awhile!
I did some hedges at a rental house once...ALL the way around the house & carport...and I had bare spots until they started filling in...they hadn't been cut for several years when we moved in!

Here is a bush at our office, one of several hundred that the landscaping company cut WAY back this spring. When they were done there wasn't anything green on them. They had been in the ground for 18 years this spring and I believe this is the first time they did this major prune job on them. As you can see they are coming back green and healthy. Not all bushes can handle this severe pruning but if they can they'll be just fine in a few months.

Yes, that looks about like those we cut to paint that house. All the stumps were covered by fall & they just looked like new plants...couldn't tell they were big ones that had been cut way back.