because they were planted and ignored.. like most shrubs should be ... lol

sell them??? .. for real??? .. or are you pulling my/our leg/legs????

ken

The boxwood at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC are enormous and gorgeous, and not too far away from those in the photo above.

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I think that they can get big if they have what they need, and Ken is right - no transplanting, no pruning, no fertilizer, no dogs, mild winters and that eliminates most of what you note as problematic. If they get enough water and are in the correct zone and are allowed the time necessary to attain size, well, there you have it!

Personally, I wouldn't mess with success - I wouldn't move them but defer to those who have had experience moving shrubs of this kind and size.

Gee, how do they get down that sidewalk??? Professionals should move them, for sure, and good luck.

I don't know about them being the mother-of-all-boxwoods; that size isn't all that uncommon around here. At least in the pictures, they do look healthier (good coloration and fullness) than I often see. The overgrown nature of the ones in the picture aren't doing anything good for the home, but the ones I often see, that are that big but with dead branches and gaping voids, really look awful.

That pic is a perfect example of "wrong" landscaping, IMO. The alternative would have been an ongoing pruning battle, an unappealing prospect. If something much smaller had been planted there, no "regular" pruning would have been required, nor the walkway rendered useless. If I was a burglar, I would definitely notice that house. You could spend as much time as necessary breaking in without ever being noticed. I would never have any bushes big enough to hide behind near my front door like that. If they can get somebody to pay for that mistake, wouldn't that be something?!

I don't have any input on their health, sorry. I can tell you these things are extremely hard to kill if you don't want them. Takes years for the roots to give up.

Yeah, I wasn't focused on the house - I have to say it never occurred to me that that was the front door! Yikes!

For a variety of reasons the front entrance of houses today is not the main entrance. It has to do with where the auto's are parked, and how the dwelling is oriented on the property.
Back to my OP. I'm asking why these box appear to be remarkably healthy? A few years ago I visited a lime kiln dating back to the colonial era on a nearby property. I'm betting that this area has pH neutral soils unlike my area, 20 miles away which has acidic soils.
How much does pH effect the health of buxus? The American Boxwood Society states The pH needs to be in a proper range in order for the nutrients to be available to the plant. The optimal soil pH for boxwood is between 6.5 and 7.2 Another online reference for buxus states that nematode infestations can be remedied by liming the soil and raising the soil's pH to 7.0
Isn't it possible that so many of the problems causing boxwoods to decline are due to too low pH?

Purpleinopp, ever heard of glyphosate (RoundUp, Gly-4, etc, etc) or triclopyr (Brush-b-gon, etc, etc)? If you treat the freshly cut stump of a boxwood (assuming you want to leave the stump in the ground), killing them is a piece of cake. In almost all instances, one application and done!

Of course I've heard of those, not how I roll. Thanks!

Pair in first picture liable to be 'Suffruticosa'. Same as with many dwarf and slow-growing conifers and rhododendrons, pieris etc. examples of this cultivar are little things when you first put them in, continue the slow growth after establishment. But even when annual increase is on the small side, over the course of ~65 years it adds up.

Here's a third reference to pH from literature of English Boxwoods of Virginia in Lynchburg English Boxwoods prefer a pH of 6.5-7.2 A soil analysis is always recommended to determine the existing conditions of the soil...
I'm determined to think that many of the maladies of boxwood are magnified by planting in acidic soils.

When I was a kid, I would love to have shrubs like that. I would pretend the space between them where the sidewalk is was a cave or a fort. Good times...

My first thought was "that house sure has a nice pair"

sorry I have nothing intelligent to contribute.

sad to report that the shrubs in my OP are history T_T
This one grows on Maryland's Eastern Short with several companions in a parish cemetery. It is simply perfect, see my cap at the bottom for scale.
Perhaps the fact that it has been untouched and undisturbed for countless decades is why it looks so good.
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I think it helped that they had some shade. Too much sun can be a stressor.

Great photos Sam! Keep 'em comin'

"sad to report that the shrubs in my OP are history T_T "

Maybe not as sad as you think, since boxwood blight would have killed them in the next 3-5 years anyhow. Ones that big are not too uncommon, if you know where to look for them...and quite a few probably got junked for just this reason. They get too big for the spot. People don't realize they can just be cut down and will regenerate.
When Williamsburg, VA was being "restored" by the Rockefellers during the depression, the rural south was canvassed for old boxwoods to repopulate the gardens. My grandmother always proudly told me that they didn't have to sell theirs. For some reasons boxwoods were one of my first plant interests as a child, maybe I liked the smell...it seems funny to me now. I remember seeing big ones at Mount Vernon and the nearby estate, something like Arcturus on the Potomac, and yearning to have such plants in my garden. I still do love the smell and have a small English Boxwood just to sniff it once in a while haha.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Wed, Oct 22, 14 at 16:14

That very first photo submitted with the question looks like a giant pair of green, bushy buttocks, LOL, right in front of the house. In order to get to the front door you have to go through the... :-)

plantingman: lol you "cracked" me up.

Mikebotann, that is so cool! How often do you have to trim it in order to maintain the features?

I think that it helped that they had some shade
Great point, virtually all of the really healthy box I've seen with good color received high shade. In this case ancient Red Cedars shade them.
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Here's a quote from "English Boxwoods of Virginia" with some good cultural advice: Indications of lack of nutrients include poor color and little or no new growth in the spring. This condition is most often caused by the soil pH being too acid and the plant not being able to "take up" nutrients, not an actual lack of nutrients. English boxwood prefer a pH of 6.5-7.2

That boxwood is terrible at the game "hide and seek." lol But yes, I have also found that boxwood in the climate that I live in scorch if they don't get afternoon shade. That may not be true of all climates. Perhaps boxwood growing in climates with cool nights may not need afternoon shade. Maybe someone from Iowa or Minnesota has some experiences to share about boxwood.

Plantingman, I trim it about three times a year.
Illex crenata, 'Convexa' takes to trimming better than boxwood, especially undercuts.
Mike

MIke...heck yeah! LOVE that picture. Do you have a flickr account or some gallery of pictures of your garden somewhere? As usual, it's an inspiration. I would love another view of the crocogator!

Sorry to be a thread bumper, I'd forgotten about this one.

I don't think standard boxwoods need any shade in SE Virginia, but they probably prefer winter shade much further north and summer shade much further south.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Wed, Nov 12, 14 at 21:31

Davidrt28, it's on my member page.
Mike
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Great, thanks! How many individual plants did that take?

About 30. I started them from cuttings a few inches long. When they rooted I planted them in a bed for two years and then in the landscape up on a hill in a landscaped bed. That didn't work out. It just looked like a crooked hedge and it was getting lost in the other plants. So I moved it closer to the house and in a low spot where the silhouette could be viewed better. I had some extra plants so I added them to make 'Aero' longer. He's 45 ft. long and just over 6 ft. at the shoulder. He gets a haircut two or three times a year to make him presentable. He's the only plant in my garden I shear. Low maintenance is a rule of mine.
If I had to do it over again I would make him longer with more space for his neck and belly. As it is, he gets fatter, but doesn't get much longer in proportion. He's lost his neck entirely and his tail appears too short for his fat body. No matter how close I trim him, he continues to gain weight.
Next Spring I'm going to cut Aero down to about 3 inches high and regrow him from sprouts. A lot of the lower branches have rooted. Those will be dug up and replanted somewhere. Otherwise he will be too fat right off the start.
He's about 30 years old and showing his age.
Bo and Aero

Always a joy to see photos of your garden, mikebotann.

The gardens aren't as good as the photos indicate. I'm just good at cropping pictures when I take them.
Mike

Mike, your gardens are gorgeous!

Thanks, catkin.
As you can see, I enjoy gardening.
I call this picture, 'Predator or Prey?'
Mike
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Nice specimen of Buxus microphylla 'Compacta' from the Gotelli Collection at Nat'l Arboretum. I think that this may be original to the collection which was planted in 1962. It appears to be healthy. Notice small leaf size and lighter color than the other boxwood.

Unfortunately the shrubs are heavily infested with psyllid and leafminer.

What is "American Box"? None of the 70 or so species are native to the continental US and the ones that are native to the 'Americas' are all tropical.

What is American Box?

Hi Smivies, as you probably know, there is no rhyme nor reason to common names. The first page on this site gives as good an explanation as any for your question.Boxwood Society

The American Boxwood Society headquarters are at the Blandy Experimental Farm in Boyce, VA. Where better to feature several 'Graham Blandy' boxwoods?

George Bridge had an impressive display of boxwood at today's nursery trade show in Baltimore. It's an example of "if you have to ask about price, you can't afford it" :)

And you _can afford_ to have them die and need replacement when boxwood blight gets to your neighborhood. LOL. The American Nursery/Greenscaping industry is so shambolic.

I looked at the picture before I read the text and immediately asked myself what shrubs like that would cost. It was answered in the 2nd sentence. :)

Someone in Bedford, NY has been trying to sell a dozen boxwood this size on craigslist for a couple of years now..

'Curly Locks' is one of the small leaved forms. This one is quite compact and slow growing. The more that I observe these healthy box it's clear to me that they benefit from some shade, especially mid-Atlantic and southward.

Do the house owners in the OP get many visitors? With the giant boxwoods at the front door exuding giant odors? Or is there a side entrance?

I grew two boxwoods to this size in Kansas City in full sun with just a twice yearly shaping. Easy.

I took this pic this morning of a remarkable American Box at the Mt Vernon estate of George Washington. The plant was given to Washington the year before he died.

Thanks. Too bad the boxwood blight will probably get it eventually.

The owner stands behind "Tide Hill' selection of Korean Box. This is the first time I heard of this boxwood. Tiny leaves, beautiful, uniform color, not at all chlorotic. Pruners have never touched this plant. It is growing in acidic clay, high shade in Maryland.

What lovely texture and a great contrast with the rhodie behind it on the left.