Thank you for writing. It may make you feel better to know many of us have had boxwood problems in recent years.

I can’t be sure exactly what is causing your trouble as there are a number of factors which may contribute to your plants looking as they do.

It is possible that your boxwoods have suffered from winter winds which caused the plants to lose water faster than they could replace it by uptaking moisture through the roots and thus parts of it became desiccated. Prevention by protecting your boxwoods from wind;  providing a shelter or covering them during winter weather is the way to improve that situation.

Another option would be leaf miners. Do the leaves appear blistered where the larvae have eaten tunnels between the upper and lower parts of the leaves? If that’s a possibility from what you see, more information on leaf miners and pictures of the damage can be found at Be Alert for Boxwood Leafminer | BYGL (osu.edu)

The other option is a fungal infection. Volutella blight is one kind of fungal infection. To learn more about Volutella blight you might wish to read ppfs-or-w-26.pdf (uky.edu). A worse kind of fungal infection is boxwood blight. To learn more about it read DATCP Home Boxwood Blight (wi.gov). Control, not cure, the problem can be done through pruning, removal of all infected branches and leaves, and applications of fungicide.

The only way to determine exactly from what your boxwoods are suffering is by submitting a sample to the C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic in Wooster, Ohio. Directions for submitting a sample are found at the following website: Submit Sample | PPDC (osu.edu).

Boxwoods are wonderful shrubs and worth preserving if possible.