Salt damage? Dog pee damage? Herbicide damage? Probably not winter damage, at least not from this winter.

For something that is supposed to be indestructible, boxwoods seem to be fussy as all get out.

Boxwood blight

https://www.bing.com/search?q=boxwood+blight&form=EDGEAR&qs=PF&cvid=69e7233490a149d382d3f85d77ea4108&cc=US&setlang=en-US&elv=AQj93OAhDTi*HzTv1paQdniPVE%21EolWuEXb4OFQZJZPPfMmblxNcfbQE2a4ILJ3eVRTLEugnYgKrxtxfgXsmuYlCfpTKshNrXfifBOclzm2w&plvar=0

Thanks for all the reply, it does look like boxwood blight.. i'll have to research if there is anything that can be done to save the others.

Boxwood blight is inundating the east coast and rapidly moving west!! If your variety of box is susceptible - English and American box tend to be highly to moderately susceptible; Korean and hybrid boxwoods less so - then there's not much that can be done. There is no treatment or cure other than to plant more resistant varieties.

if you want to cure YOUR problem ... as defined as you owning too many box ... the answer would be to remove all the box.. and replace with anything else ...

from experience... i suggest you not waste a lot of time trying to fix the prior owners mistakes ... you have little vested interest ... and its simply not worth the effort ..

after you remove them ... give us a pic of the whole area.. and we can help you choose new things ...

since you claim to be a newb.. here are some general guidelines ... one of the most important being TIMING .... if you cant plant soon ... within the next month .. plan on doing such in the fall planting period ... it is often suggested that a new owner should take one summer.. to understand their garden.. before they decide how to move forward .;... but that doesnt mean you cant remove these in the meantime ....

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

ken

Plantings of box have long shown problems with discoloration and diseases such as root rot when site conditions were less than perfect - every time a box looks diseased it is not automatically box blight. That is only comparatively recently a significant occurrence in North America and has specific identifying characteristics.

>Box blight is … rapidly moving west!<

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 several Oregon nurseries (Clackamas, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill counties) but also in landscapes in Clackamas, Coos, Multnomah, and Yamhill counties and in Seattle, WA

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

Thanks for all the input, since I posted this I have been reading about box blight and looking at the characteristics and comparing them against my plants and the one thing I don't see is the wicking of the stems being black, I look through all the plants and I don't see any of that. I don't have any dogs around that would be peeing on them, we do have some neighborhood cats that I have caught on out cams spraying on my wifes car and around different areas and I am starting to wonder if this cat could be the cause of some of this.

Other people have mentioned maybe the plants got sprayed with grass fertilizer, I suppose this is possible from the previous owner or other weed control since they are planted along the driveway with rock landscaping.

Is there any other stuff I can look at to try to see if its a fungus or something else affecting it. I am going to setup a game cam and see if the cat is spraying on them.

thanks for all the input

It's not the cat.

It's not a cat, not even a dog. And it's not spraying with a lawn fertilizer although could possibly be the effect of herbicide drift (but doesn't really look like that, either).

Regardless, they are on their way out if not outright dead now and unrecoverable. Get rid of them and start over with something else. And in NJ, I'd avoid boxwoods.

Thanks again for all the comments, I am going to be ripping them out. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can replace them with that could the same type of characteristics? A friend of mine suggested ILEX GLABRA COMPACTA... Just wondering anyones thoughts.

Thanks again

Joe

Japanese holly, Ilex crenata. A boxwood look-a-like that comes in various sizes and cultivars and is significantly more problem-free than box. 'Helleri' or 'Northern Beauty' would be my first choices.

(the Ilex glabra could work as well)

Common (sempervirens) box at least often looks poor if soil drainage is not the best . In fact it is known for tolerating dry soil conditions. In my area there are a lot of them around that have discoloration or even dieback, as yours do. The holly looks better in general although the 'Convexa' cultivar in particular apparently needs to be fertilized on many local sites because it often has a yellow foliage color. And when Japanese holly is in flower it swarms with bees.

" And when Japanese holly is in flower it swarms with bees. "

As does the boxwood!! In fact, it can be so active with pollinators when in bloom the shrub virtually vibrates!