Pruning a common boxwood - too tall and too dense - Ask Extension
Hi-
My neighbor has an 8 foot common boxwood and she wants to prune it down so it's a lot shorter. She is also interested in pruning the shrub for ai...
Knowledgebase
Pruning a common boxwood - too tall and too dense #910392
Asked July 18, 2025, 2:18 PM EDT
Hi-
My neighbor has an 8 foot common boxwood and she wants to prune it down so it's a lot shorter. She is also interested in pruning the shrub for air circulation and letting light in.
Can she just chop down the top 1/3 of the boxwood? Could she do 1/2 the shrub? Should she wait until Feb./March?
Also, any tips on how to cut the stems out to open the shrub up for air circulation and light?
Thank you.
Howard County Maryland
Expert Response
Boxwoods are fairly flexible about tolerating pruning throughout much of the year, but avoid pruning in the period from August through October. It might be best to wait until spring at this point, just before new growth emerges (perhaps around February, weather permitting).
"Thinning" is the pruning method used to improve airflow through the branches and to let more light reach the interior. Select an entire stem to cut back in areas with dense growth. There is no specific criteria for the length/height of branch to remove, so it's somewhat dependent on the current state of the plant. Shrubs needing lots of rejuvenation through pruning can be tackled in a multi-year process, with some of the growth being thinned one year and more the next, until the shrub is at the desired size and openness. This will avoid stressing the plant by removing too much growth in any one year. Even so, healthy boxwoods have a good tolerance for heavy pruning.
Cutting back the branch tops would be a "heading-back" type of cut, which will not help to thin the plant, and in fact may make the branch/foliage density worse, since heading-back cuts encourage regrowth that creates more branching. It could be combined with thinning, but should not be used by itself. Our Pruning Shrubs and Hedges web page has more guidance.
Miri
"Thinning" is the pruning method used to improve airflow through the branches and to let more light reach the interior. Select an entire stem to cut back in areas with dense growth. There is no specific criteria for the length/height of branch to remove, so it's somewhat dependent on the current state of the plant. Shrubs needing lots of rejuvenation through pruning can be tackled in a multi-year process, with some of the growth being thinned one year and more the next, until the shrub is at the desired size and openness. This will avoid stressing the plant by removing too much growth in any one year. Even so, healthy boxwoods have a good tolerance for heavy pruning.
Cutting back the branch tops would be a "heading-back" type of cut, which will not help to thin the plant, and in fact may make the branch/foliage density worse, since heading-back cuts encourage regrowth that creates more branching. It could be combined with thinning, but should not be used by itself. Our Pruning Shrubs and Hedges web page has more guidance.
Miri
