I never could keep a boxwood alive -- they always tend to go crispy brown on me, like the plants in your photos.

I don't have enough experience with boxwoods, or shrubs in general, to tell you to dig and toss your plants, though. They may be suffering from something that is easily fixed (or not), but I'd suggest you post your photos and maybe a bit more information about their growing conditions, etc., over in the Garden Clinic (aka Pests & Diseases forum). The folks over there have been most helpful in diagnosing a variety of problems I've had with plants in my garden over the last couple of years.

Good Luck ~
Renee

I have absolutely no idea why they're dying. The winter wasn't that unusual this year, however we did have a couple inches of ice underneath a couple inches of snow for a couple weeks. That's about the only thing that was unusual for us around here.

Thanks Renée, I will try that forum and see what they say.

Another useful bit of info would be how long they've been in this spot - were they planted recently, like a year or 2 ago?

And, was there salt applied to the paving this winter?

I'd say dead. My neighbor has a whole line of boxwoods that look exactly the same as yours--some a beautiful green and some that sick yellow. I've been watching them all year, and the yellow ones never recovered.

Of course, I'm not an expert! I hope I am wrong.

Thanks for the responses! These things are definitely dead. There is no green growth in the middle anymore. Just brown crunchy dead leaves and stems. I guess I will try planting some more and see what happens.

Break off a stick on one of the yellow ones. If it's green inside and flexible,there's hope. If its brown and dry and snaps right off, it's dead. Sorry.

Well, I finally dug one up yesterday and couldn't see anything wrong with the soil. It did look like it might've been root bounded though. Is this something a boxwood hedgerow should do?

Hi Nienke: Your boxwood looks similar to mine and I noticed little flies buzzing around this Spring. I looked elsewhere on the computer and found they could have boxwood leaf miner. I don't know if this is the problem or not but it really was unbearable to garden in the adjoining flower beds last year because of the flies. Do you or does anyone know if I spray with an organic spray like Neem, it might help???

Were you affected by the late freeze in our area? If so, that probably did them in.

Boxwood have shallow root systems, and need moist soil and a nice layer of mulch. These may be in an exposed location where a combination of wind and insufficient moisture in the soil caused severe desiccation.

You may want to give them some winter protection in the future, or move them to a more sheltered spot and replace them with something that will survive the conditions more gracefully.