Keep the yews. Either that, or replace them with smaller varieties of yews. That isn't a boxwood friendly site, and the winterburn will drive you crazy.

What's the problem with Wintergem? I love boxwood because the deer don't eat them, so I have Wintergem, Common Box and Dwarf English. Wintergem is the cold hardiest cultivar. Is it not hardy to 5a? It is a beautiful plant! Not a dwarf and a strong grower but it isn't that hard to keep it trimmed to 4 feet. My dwarf English are against the house--facing west and doing fine. If you decide against Box, what about a holly? PS: I can't grow yews--deer love to eat them, So, in place of yews, I do have Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus) but they are not hardy to your zone. Good luck & Happy 4th!::)

Westerly winter winds in zone 5 are hard on boxwoods and holly both. Neither will stay green and will be lucky to even keep their leaves in harsh winters. They may green out every spring, but they will react more like a deciduous bush. Winds are hard on broad leaved evergreens in our zone.

Ok, so the message I get is a hardy boxwood -- like winter gem -- or maybe keep the yews. A bit more background: first, my dear hubbie has fond memories of the of the look and scent of the large boxwoods his grandmother had in North Carolina. Yup, I know, the scent of boxwoods is hated by many, and um, yup, New York is not North Carolina. But I love my dear hubbie and he likes boxwoods.

As for the yews: I would be very tempted to hack away at them to about two feet, deal with completely ugly bare tops and sides for a season... and I suspect in time they would fill in, and not be constantly overgrown. In fact, I did this with the back of the hedge and that has happened somewhat, even with little light because it is the back.

Further difficulties: previous owners planted WAY too many evergreens in one bed. An 8' long hedge of yews, a yew conifer, and a few yew-like (sorry!) round bushes a couple of feet in front. AND a spruce. They've all grown into each other, and so there are bare spots in the two evergreen trees in the bed. The front shorter bushes are getting pulled, the spruce will need to be pulled due to bare spots... So the question is, how to manage the back hedge and the yew "Christmas" tree, which I think will have a bare spot after removing a plant in front of it. Sigh!

Any suggestions? I know the bare spot on the spruce won't fill in. Will the yew tree fill in? I think it is a yew. Or something similar...

Sorry for the long post, thanks for any suggestions that are out there!

Yew will regrow. It's about the only conifer that can regrow from places without current growth. So cutting it back hard isn't a bad strategy. Any yew with bald spots has the potential to grow back.

I actually agree with your husband about box. It's one of the 'summer' smells to me. However, hardy box doesn't smell. Unless you are in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. It's a different species. I've even asked here what Korean boxwood hybrids smell, and haven't gotten anywhere. Most people just think I'm nuts.

If you really want to try some box, find a place that is sheltered during the winter from both wind and sun. By far the most successful boxwoods I've seen here were on the north side of a library. The building protected them from sun. Around the library was a driveway, and around the driveway was an almost totally enclosing, thick screen of evergreens. Those blocked the wind. Where I have mine are on the south side of the house, which block the winds, and in the winter shade of a large oak tree. Jaynes, the Connecticut mountain laurel guru, say that deciduous shade is enough to prevent the burning of mountain laurel during the winter, and so far IME it seems to hold for other broadleaf evergreens.

Mad,

Thanks, this is really helpful. I had noticed that the boxwoods that smelled the most were English boxwoods, but I am not a boxwood smell expert, so I guess I hadn't done a good scent comparison. :)

I think your comments explain why I have seen some boxwoods that look really good around here, and some that look pretty lame (winterburn etc). I think I am likely not to risk it, and try a hard prune on the yew. Although my husband is really understanding about indulging my newbie diving into gardening, so I feel a bit bad about not giving him a boxwood... unfortunately we have NO back (south) yard, just a side yard, and I don't really know that we have any place where the boxwood would do well.

Now if I can just figure out what annual or cheap perennial to plant to hide the yew while it is growing!

(Suggestions, anyone? :-> )

I am in 5A southwest facing foundation and I have two Green Velvets that do just fine here. The hybrids with a "Green" in the name are very hardy. They only give off an odor once in awhile and its pretty mild.

It grows low and wide. Mine are about 2 1/2' tall x 3-4' wide after about 6 years. I don't shear them at all. Just a light touch here and there to even things out a bit.

I have some others in a shady spot that do perfect too. They are smaller. Green Ice. I also have a Green Mountain (tall upright variety).

All of my "Green ____" stay perfectly green all winter.

Wendyb and all,

thanks for the posts. After reexamining the yews, I've realized that they are just WAY too big for the space. I do see some boxwoods doing well around here, and Wendyb, you have the size that I really want -- a little wider than tall. So I am going to try Green Velvets and see how they do. I will go for three, and hope I can find big ones affordably. I will post back and let everyone know how they work out. With luck, they will do well in the winters; I know I might be taking a risk. Thanks for all the input!