They already grow so tight that they lose their interior growth.

Dec 28, Neglect regular pruning, though, and a wall of evergreen foliage soon looms over your garden. Severe pruning of boxwoods can have mixed results, but you may be able to safely cut the shrubs back by. Boxwoods can be cut back pretty dramatically and they'll re-grow nicely. That's not true of all evergreens. In general, firs, Pines, spruce and other evergreens with 'whorled branches' will NOT sprout new growth in areas cut back to leafless stumpcut.barted Reading Time: 5 mins.

Mar 07, There are several types of pruning methods for boxwoods - thinning, shearing, and heading back (restoring overgrown boxwood). You will have to decide on your goal. In general you should not remove any more than 1/4 of the shrub in a season. It would be okay to prune. Mar 07, There are several types of pruning methods for boxwoods - thinning, shearing, and heading back (restoring overgrown boxwood).

You will have to decide on your goal. In general you should not remove any more than 1/4 of the shrub in a season. It would be okay to prune in March, early spring.

The best method for pruning English boxwoods is thinning. Cut back at the end of May, beginning of June. This way you can use the second growth phase which usually occurs around end of June for a more dense growth of the hedge or boxwood tree. You may then cut back again till mid or end of July. Cut back at mid or end of July. This way you only need to cut back your hedge or boxwood plants once a year. Feb 19, Boxwood can be stumped back to bare wood.

If they were healthy and growing vigorously to begin with, their post-cut leafless wood will be full and green again by summer. Below: This and other boxwood hedges' pruning are pictured in Spring cut, cut, cut: Boxwood pruning. Cut them back to a year's growth smaller than the finished size you want.