Worth the effort is a relative assessment. Doable? Eminently. Value proposition? Your choice...but if it were me in that position, I'd jump on it.

What's the spacing where they are now?

Boxwood transplant easily. Water daily first 2 weeks and start reducing watering from thereafter.

Wayne - just curious - why would you jump on it? We moved another mature (although smaller) hedge from the front of the house to the back a few weeks and it was a TON of work. That combined with the fear that it might all die after all that work has made me really want to weigh the pros and cons before jumping in on this.

Regarding spacing - the shrubs are “connected” at this point at the tops. Not sure how far the bases are apart but I could find out.

Bossy - my neighbor warned me that boxwoods are finicky - susceptible to blight. What are your thoughts on that? I live in Seattle and the rain is daily now, so I won’t have to worry about the effort needed for watering lol.

Blight is spread by landscapers using infected pruners. Maintain your own box and it will be fine. In my climate box is easy-peasy. Kinda boring but easy unless you prune it into geometric shapes, then it needs frequent trims.

its the old cost benefit ratio ... including the cost of you own labor ...

back when i was younger ... i considered labor to be exercise .... and of low value... it was simply fun to have a project to do outside ...

today ... meh ... im too lazy .... lol ... and on top of it all ... if they do live ... you will be trimming them once or twice per year ... who needs it ....

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Meh

and then.. on top of it all ... all the various other problems associated with box ... it would be like moving a high maintenance girlfriend.. lol .. you might be better off without her ...

your choice ...

ken

Anytime you plant, There's a risk things could die. This is no different.

If i had determined I desired a hedge and this was a suitable plant, I'd have this done so quickly it wouldn't be silly. While boxwood aren't exactly hard to find plants, in the 21st century, nothing is cheap.

The hardest part about moving them is getting everything lined up again in the new location. Not that hard...just painstaking.

There's always something. There's this blight, that insect, something. And if you haven't heard of it yet, wait. There's something. All of that being saud, boxwood are workhorses of the landscape. They didn't get that ubiquitous by being finicky.

Wayne - I was thinking the risk of these dying was higher than new shrubs since I would be disturbing an established root system. Thoughts on that?

Ken - let’s say I want a girlfriend (or in my case a boyfriend since I’m female) but don’t want the high maintenance kind :). What would you recommend instead of the boxwoods for my purposes?

Bossy - to make sure I understand - the shrubs right now are “connected” together at the top and have been trimmed to a continuous rectangular hedge shape if that makes sense. I was thinking I’d have to move them and plant them in their current form (as a long row together). Are you saying that I should separate out the plants and plant them almost as I would if I bought them new from the nursery? I never thought of doing it that way... will they fill in (or have the reached their max size already since they are old?

They never stop growing so inevitably they touch and that’s what forms a row. By Planting 3’ on center I mean the base of one shrub s/b planted 3’ from the base of THE NEXT shrub and so on and so forth. If they touch at the top (canopy) that’s ok. There’s still some circulation at the base.

Got it - thank you! That seems much less daunting than moving the entire row. I would end up moving about seven of the shrubs. Any additional advice on successfully digging up and transplanting? I will mix compost in soil and have the holes dug and ready for the incoming shrubs...

Try to keep rootball as intact as you can when uprooting but tearing will happen. Keep on w/your task. They will heal.

First, you can't move a hedge and have it look like a hedge :-) Once transplanted, it will look like a row of rather scrubby looking plants until they all settle in and start putting on new growth. There will be obvious dead or leafless portions, created by the close proximity of the established plants in a hedge formation - you just cannot get around that. If the new "hedge" is not overly visible that may not be a major issue but if in a prominant position like your front garden, you may not be willing to put up with that scruffy look for the time it takes to recover.

And boxwood blight is a real threat that shouldn't be discounted. It is sweeping the country and is present here in the PNW - I have personally seen it attack local plantings. And there is no cure.

I would also take into consideration the aroma box gives off in a sunny location. It can be strong and many find it very unpleasant. Just some other factors to consider before expending the effort on transplanting :-)

If you do decide to move forward with the transplanting, do not add any amendments to the soil. Just dig an adequately sized hole in well draining, unimproved/unamended soil.

Possible effects of years of close shearing aside if these are thought to be "mature" at a mere 20 in. high they may be the much planted Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa' - which is said to be particularly susceptible to box blight. Perhaps due in part to the dense habit.

Of course when taking apart a closely planted hedge of any kind it has to be put back together again like it was before. Or the now bald-looking flanks of each specimen will be apparent for some time. But since this planting probably doesn't consist of one of the quite small number of apparently blight tolerant kinds of box I wouldn't bother with it at all myself.

"Hosts include many Buxus spp. and cultivars, Pachysandra, and Sarcococca. The three main boxwood species-Buxus sempervirens, B. microphylla (littleleaf boxwood), and B. sinica var. insularis (Korean boxwood)-are known hosts. Buxus colchica and B. microphylla var. japonica (Japanese boxwood) are also hosts. There are no resistant cultivars; however, tests in North Carolina have found B. sinica var. insularis 'Nana' and B. microphylla var. japonica 'Green Beauty' to be tolerant although they still carry the fungus"

Boxwood (Buxus spp.)-Box Blight

https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/boxwood-buxus-spp-box-blight

I can understand the appeal of "free" plants. But often free comes with drawbacks, most of which have been outlined here. Box is ubiquitous and boring and the same effect could be achieved with other, less troublesome plantings. LIke Embo, it would not be worth my effort to bother..........

I love boxwood! I favor formal landscaping and while it’s not exactly what I have, boxwood lends itself so well for that style. There are other options but for free, yes i’d Jump on it. Again, if more than a few dead branches, I’d not go crazy finding them spots in my home. But if neighbor just hates boxwood, take them and enjoy until your taste becomes more regal and refined w/respect to plants...

I’m not sure my taste will ever get to regal and refined ;). The funny part is that we already moved one hedge (of arborvitaes) from front to back. It was a lot of hard work and I wasn’t sure they would live and at the end I said “never again”!

The some time passed, the memory mellowed, the arborvitae are doing well so far (knock on wood) and it once again seems (kind of) feasible to do it. I also like to respect / recycle old plants when possible (others may not agree). And when I went to the nursery to look at new plants that were not boxwood (because I was concerned about the blight), I led the nice lady helping me over to some shrubs and said “how about these? I really like these” and they were boxwoods :) :) :). So I’m opening myself to the idea again.

My neighbour once offered me some box plants that he was removing and I declined, but it's a few years down the track now and although I don't regret my decision, if I had wanted such a hedge it seems to me it would have been a good opportunity.

But it's not for the faint hearted. You'd need to have the area for your new hedge dug out and ready for the installments. When your neighbour starts to remove the plants they can be transplanted as soon as possible, then watered in.

If you want such a hedge, I say go for it.

(Plus, and this is pointing out the obvious, sorry, but if you are prepared, the job won't be nearly as difficult.)

ETA: Yes, I think they will survive if you do the job carefully and therefore I think it will be worth it. I'm assuming that your neighbour will have much the same sort of soil as you do and neither of your have amended your soil with anything that isn't much good (i.e. a manufactured 'soil').

So many people in my area employ shonky tradespeople to do their landscaping for them and these people are not 'gardeners' in my opinion, just people hurling bought 'soil' and 'advanced' trees and shrubs around.

As it appears box blight is apt to sweep through local plantings I can't see the point in making any new ones. Spoiling epidemics do arise and make previously much used decorative favorites effectively obsolete, a recent example being the spotting and premature defoliation of Fraser photinia that has become highly prevalent here. Before that (starting, it seems about the time of the destructive 1990 winter) many rhododendrons were made homely, even killed by powdery mildew (rhododendron lace-bug also gives the leaves a similar appearance). Mildews of Leucothoe, Nandina and salal have also become noticeable in this area. As with a large number of rhododendrons the problem with the first two is bad enough to make their continued use outside of settings with diligent, well chosen and well coordinated fungicidal spray regimes questionable.

I wonder about the condition of those plants that are succumbing to disease and mayhem. Were they treated well? Or are they victims of shonky tradespeople?

Maybe they were mature, once healthy plants. I don't know. But I see nothing wrong with attempting a project. Give it a go and see what happens.

Actually, a couple of weeks ago my husband and I were walking down a street nearby, lamenting once again the mess that has been made of the once beautiful claret ashes. Large, mature trees have been pruned in a rather peculiar fashion -- no, not lopped, but just the occasional (and not so occasional) long huge branch removed. The trees now look skinny with their too few branches. And the reason? There's calamity being spoken about the new beaut fungal disease that is destroying the ashes.

So the other day I Googled. Because I couldn't help but wonder about this amazing new problem. Was it in fact an old problem? And yes it was, I decided. My old boss had told me years ago, decades ago, that he would never advise someone to plant a claret ash because the top dies out. Due to a fungal disease. In my opinion, these poor claret ashes should be left alone to get on with their job (growing and looking wonderful and giving us shade) instead of a bunch of twits come running out with chain saws and swollen heads. The trees in that street look awful and I can't help but think there has been an over-reaction.

Since the blight can decimate brand new and apparently heathy nursery stock as well as very established inground plantings, I'm not sure how "care" factors into the issue. It's a severe fungal disease and so the present health of the plant has minimal bearing. If the spores are present near a susceptible species, then chances are very good it will be contracted.

Same with the ash trees. In addition to the canker that causes sigificant dieback, they are also prone to EAB. And there are no effective controls for either. So the issue comes down to do we continue to plant species that are overly prone to diseases and insect probems that can result in their death and spread easily to previously unaffected specimens or do we opt for something that will be relatively trouble- and disease-free going forward?

I know what my answer would be :-) Gardening is serious enough work without creating additional problems for one's self!

Gardengal - I was at Swanson’s looking at alternatives to boxwoods and their expert garden lady helping me said she had not heard anything about boxwood blight - which really suprised me. Does that seem odd to you? And to that point, is there another nursery in the Seattle area you recommend?

Also, to anyone who wants to weigh in with an opinion - the other two options I really liked were Helleri Japanese Holly and White Perfection Heather (won’t look like a traditional hedge but I’m okay with that).

Large branch removals being undertaken in long established plantings of Caucasian ash could be due to the splitting apart that named forms of this species such as 'Raywood' are subject to. Maybe you are seeing where branch failures have been followed by cleaning up with saws, rather than where entire branches were pruned out.

Does that seem odd to you?

As with other retailing not every employee one talks to at garden centers is kept fully informed. Either by management or themselves, on their own time. (Even when they are presented to the public as experts). I haven't seen signs yet that we are to the point where nursery workers are being shown samples of blighted boxes and being asked about them, over and over. When that starts happening then it will be a lot easier to go into a store and find somebody that has something to say about it.

Swanson's is the only nursery of its type within Seattle proper. I suppose the next closest option would by Sky, in Shoreline. Otherwise there is Molbak's out in Woodinville and Wells-Medina in Bellevue.

Just because someone works at a nursery, it does not make them an "expert garden lady" or properly knowledgeable. They are afterall just retail sales people, hopefully with some basic plant knowledge - their intent is to sell plants :-) But no horticulturist worth their salt (or the title) will be unaware of boxwood blight. Or other very prominent and widespread plant issues, especially those that occur locally.

Japanese holly is an excellent substitute for box with none of the liabilities. But will grow faster and larger than dwarf English box so more pruning may be required for a tidy hedge. Boxleaf euonymus is another possiblity.

Swanson's is a very good nursery....probably the best in Seattle proper. And they used to have staffing that was more knowledgeable - a lot of CPH's - at least they did in the days I was there. Wells Medina in Bellevue is also an excellent nursery. And I make these comments with reference to plant selection.....not so much to staff knowledge :-)

I’m not familiar with those shrubs. But a very basic question needs answering before giving boxwoods any more thought: are your neighbor’s plants healthy and he just doesn’t like/want them? Or are they declining and he’s just cutting his losses? That must be answered b4 any more thought is given to transplanting to your yard.

GG, I’m wondering if boxwood is more problematic in your area than in mine. In my area, Owner lack of care is more of an issue as to why they might do poorly vs blight. Also wondering if less blight susceptible stock is sold in my area. I’m also not for creating more garden chores than necessary, so should not underestimate my ability to determine what is practical or what is pointess labor intensive gardening.

M S, you and GG are in PNW so her comments are more relevant to you than mine.

Yeah, I used the term “expert garden lady” because I’m a new gardener and I don’t know all the terms (I have no idea what a CPH is). They set up an appt for me with her and she was super knowledgeable. My point is that she wasn’t a retail clerk I just ran into on the floor. But I did get the blank stare about blight...

Bossy - neighbor’s hedge is healthy and quite pretty actually. She just moved into her house and has a “double hedge” - boxwoods in front of another hedge (I can’t remember that shrub). The aesthetic is a bit much for her, so that’s why she’s taking out the boxwoods.

I just sadly ripped out a row of diseased photinia so I definitely take notice of locale specific issues. (Interestingly enough my neighbor has a beautiful healthy photinia (which is part of the reason I felt obliged to get mine out of there quickly!))

CPH is a Certified Professional Horticulturist, a professional designation sponsored by the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association and awarded to those members that have studied for and passed a rather rigorous all-day testing process. And who must earn a minimum number of continuing education credits in their field to maintain certification. Many have college level horticultural degrees to begin with but quite a few are just very serious and self-taught gardeners that strive to keep on top of things that relate to their career or their avocation :-)

That would qualify to being an "expert garden lady" in a nursery setting. But if so, she would certainly be aware of boxwood blight!

There are C.P.H. holders working locally that aren't on top of everything by any means. It's a certification process that only goes so far, same as with Master Gardener. The rest is up to the personality and orientation of the certified individual.

I can sound really snooty about photinia, but I won’t, ha. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide.

Thanks Bossy. For what it’s worth, I didn’t plant anything. It all came with the house when I bought it...

Potential Pests of Buxus:

Canker, blight, leaf spots, root rot, winter injury and sun scald (physiological injury), mealybugs, scales, boxwood psyllid, boxwood leaf miner, giant hornet, boxwood webworm, nematodes and boxwood mite.

Landscape value:

excellent as a hedge plant, for foundations, edging situations, parterres, formal gardens; too often pruned into a green meatball and allowed to haunt a foundation planting. if used properly, can be superb. has been used for every imaginable landscape purpose.

the above comes from an author currently in print.

There's always something that's a potential problem. Often, a list that appears quite daunting. Sometimes these problems are more severe, sometimes, less so. The more common a plant, the more potentially threatening any issue can be. How do I know boxwood blight is not a major issue? Let's play a game of word association, starting with elm. I've sold trees long enough to tell you that's an uphill battle, even if the customer is the one who asks.

Pictures have a place, but are sometimes relied upon where not necessary. We have a description, but no way of evaluating the condition of the plants in question, so everyone is kinda letting their own motivations color the way they see it. You're the person thinking about doing this, so you have to do the evaluation yourself.

Interesting. I feel I am the least equipped of anyone in this conversation to make the call lol. I’m going to take another look at the shrubs and see if I have an instinct after listening to everyone’s point of view.

Opening paragraph from the Oregon State University page I linked to above:

"The fungus Calonectria pseudonaviculata (synonyms Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum or C. buxicola) was found for the first time late in 2011 in only three Oregon nurseries and four in British Columbia. Eradication efforts were initiated but have not been completely successful. The disease has been found in seven Oregon nurseries (Wasington and Marion counties) but also in landscapes in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Coos counties and in Seattle. It has also been found in numerous nurseries and landscapes in Eastern North America. It has been a problem for many years in Europe and New Zealand. Calonectria henricotiea is an important species found only in Europe that is resistant to many fungicides. The disease is especially severe where plants are sheared tightly and/or planted in hedges. Due to the history of this disease, its explosive life cycle, and low level in tolerant plants, it is expected to be an ever-increasing problem throughout the PNW"

Hello

A couple of issues related to Boxwood.

During the winter, snow will break some of the major shoots.

These Boxwood shrubs are over 70 years old and the shoots, and roots are very brittle.

When this happens a portion of the Boxwood branch’s will die off!

What can be done to avoid winter snow damage?

Thanks in advance

Carl

Hello

How to transplant a small section of a very old and brittle Boxwood to a different location?

Thanks in advance for any help...

Carl

Has anyone transported boxwood hedge with success?