Glad to hear it's going well! And sorry the carolina allspice didn't work out- i think we dug them a bit too late. Later posters in another thread mentioned they don't do well transplanting unless dormant. If you still want some, come in the fall and we'll dig some more- i still have lots to give. I gave a bunch to another poster this spring before they leafed out and they took well. So glad you discovered the old stage/broadwell's hotspot of nurseries! Great stuff! Once you get into perennials, if you do, be sure to ck into a nursery affectionately called bb's on here- it rhymes with fig floomers but with b's (can't post the actual name- they were banned years ago, not of their own doing). They are in sanford and have a huge selection and decent prices. There's a website- you'll find it if you google. :)

With regard to the boxwood - I have somewhat clayish soil, but it's still rich at least 18" deep. Boxwood do not grow slow in my opinion, and require very little care other than watering until they are established and pruning mid June for my zone. I have one on the northeast corner of my house and it's monstrous and beautiful after just a few years - Green Velvet I believe. The boxwoods in the direct sun tend to grow a little slower, and more compact. I have all three varieties - green mountain (great for hedging), green velvet (these mound nicely) and green gem for a nice tight compact ball OR you can also hedge these. A house up the block facing east with full morning to mid day sun planted an entire row of the wee small ones you'd find at a box store about three years ago. This year, they've all grown together into a nice solid low hedge. So, I think it depends on where you live and the growing conditions. Boxwood can suffer from winterburn, so we do cover them with pine sprigs or burlap in the winter for those who get sun exposure. So in my own experience, and I have them in all areas of my yard except full shade, and they thrive and grow at a moderate rate.

It depends some on your dog, but I wouldn't count on a hedge to keep a dog in. At the least it will need a wire mesh fence in the inside of the hedge to keep the dog contained until the plants grow together. Even a well grown, mature hedge may have some gaps near the base which a dog could slide through, so it may continue to need a wire fence for the first two or three feet. This request may be a bit of a problem: "shaped like a box (not spherical and not pyramidal)" since in order to maintain dense foliage near the bottom of a hedge, you will need to taper it some so that the upper parts of the hedge don't shade out the lower parts of the hedge. To maintain a boxy tapered shape rather than a more rounded shape will require pruning to give you flat sides. Do you have deer? If not, there are forms of Thuja occidentalis that will stay shorter and will grow together to make a good hedge. I don't personally have experience with how they take to pruning since I like my plants unpruned for the most part. I have 'Sunkist' (green-gold) which will be easy to maintain in the 6'-10' range for quite some time based on mine as they seem to have slowed considerably at about 5'. I bought plants in the fall of 2007 at about 3'. As individual plants they are a bit floppy in heavy snow/ice situations, but that may be less of an issue with a hedge. 'Techny' is dark green and grows to 10'-15', and I have seen photos of it pruned into a hedge. I planted mine at about 4' in the fall of 2007 and they are about 6' now. I imagine that you can find other selections of this native evergreen that are dwarf in size compared to the regular species (which grows to around 40'.) If you have deer issues they aren't a good choice, but in my heavily wooded rural area, they haven't been bothered. spring 2010 From evergreen shrubs spring 2014 From evergreen shrubs Another possible choice to look into is a really hardy Rhododendron, though they will have a more rounded form and IMO don't look great pruned into boxy shapes and will make a more gently flowing shaped hedge. They will have the added benefit of spring flowers if you don't prune them. In really cold weather they don't provide a lot of sight privacy since the leaves tend to curl up, but most folks don't require a lot of privacy when the temperatures are below 15 degrees. The link below will take you to a search page from the American Rhododendron Society which allows you to put in height preferences. On left side of photoPJM rhododendrons in 3/4 shade (so not as dense as full sun,) about 5' at 6 or 7 years in the ground from >1' when planted. From evergreen shrubs You could ask this question on the shrub forum or the conifer forum for other suggestions beyond what you get here. It also might be worth visiting local nurseries (not big box stores which often have poor or inaccurate info and plants that may not be hardy here) to see what they have in stock that would fit your requirements. They could most probably order more to complete your hedge as it will take a rather large number of plants. Here is a link that might be useful: Rhododendron Plant Search

I have a garden in NJ (Zone 7), and DEER. I have the following plants that the deer have ignored over the years (given your location of partial sun): Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) and holly species (though I HAVE SEEN them nibble on them under heavy snow conditions, still, I find it a relatively fast grower, mine seems forever out of control anyway.) Cherry Laurel (it's a pretty fast grower too but flowers will attract bees) rhododendrons boxwood (so far, I have seen no evidence of blight) Fargesia bamboo (its' a clumping species, NOT a spreader) In sunnier areas, I use ornamental grasses, crape myrtles, butterfly bush (which is semi-deciduous many Winters), and Lilacs. P.S., my grounds were hedged with barberry but I HATE that plant and ripped them all out..., thorns are awful!