Neighbour politics aside, I would not do it. I may be a little shaky on the science but advice is very, very consistent, which is that dormant pruning should be done as soon as possible before exiting dormancy....common advice is to do it when the forsythias bloom vs. a date as this is a good barometer for this ideal period. The longer between pruning and the plant being able to respond (i.e., the earlier in the winter you prune), the more likely you are to have significant drying out and die back. Think of your plants in their dormant state as a self-contained system and you are opening it up, allowing all that good stuff out. The tips die and sometimes that can travel back into the plant quite a bit. By doing this right before the plant awakens, the exposed period is as short as possible, and in fact since there is a flush of growth about to happen this is a great time, for the plant, to do it. This is a different issue, of course, than pruning too late in the Fall, which is that the new growth encouraged by pruning doesn't have time to harden off, and dies. Though the effect is probably pretty similar.

flora_uk, I can still see ungerminated seeds delightedinco, I tried the Scotts EZ Seed too - it sometimes worked, and it's very convenient to use (I like the built-in spreader on the smaller containers - the gardening newbies this product is aimed at are not going to own seed spreaders or roto-tillers, don't know what kind of soil or fertilizer to use, and have no idea what 5 lbs. per 400 feet looks like when spread. But it is so expensive for what you get). I bought it only because Scotts used to have $5-off discounts on it. Pennington has a similar product as part of their Smart Seed line that's a bit cheaper (but not much), although I wonder why they claim much longer germination times than the Scotts product. There's also Scotts Patch Master which is cheaper and I haven't used yet. I think I'm going to try just regular seed, and watering more often (a real pain here - there's no outside garden hose faucets, so I either need to use big watering buckets or run a hose from an indoor faucet. I have a 50' coiled garden hose with a sink-faucet adapter at one end and a trigger sprayer at the other for that purpose). I have a bag of Vigoro Starter Fertilizer 20-27-5, and have applied quite a bit of new seeding soil (of several varieties depending on location) since the ground is mostly hard clay. I did my best to loosen it with a metal gardening rake before adding a new layer of topsoil. Any recommendations as to what type of grass I should use? I'm near Washington DC, which means both humid 100°F+ in the summer and subfreezing icy winters. The big-box stores around here seem to favor tall fescoe, which is also what the combination seed/mulch/fertilizer products use in this market. I like the bright green color, how fast it grows, and its tolerance for all sorts of bad weather, but not the thin straight grass blades that get matted down like cheap carpeting when walked on. The second most popular here seems to be the generically-labeled "sun and shade mix". The real nurseries have more variety to choose from but also higher prices. I don't want anything that goes dormant or turns yellow or brown in the winter. The side yard is in heavy shade due to closely-spaced houses and lots of old trees, but the backyard (which I'm more concerned about since that's the main socializing area) gets alot of sunlight. I also hear some people say I shouldn't even try to grow from seed during the hot summer. But I'd like to have a lawn by fall if possible, when I plan to have a new renter. I could plant sod - but it's inconvenient given how thirsty the stuff is when new (given the water situation I mentioned earlier) and hard to transport for someone with a small car and a bad back. Any ideas?

Sevimo, I don't know if you're asking a question or making a statement. If you are going to coppice that one shrub now is the time. You'll just have to deal with it looking crappy for one season. If you happen to see new leaf growth on the legs than it might only have been the case where the shrub was pruned improperly to begin with and now that it's properly pruned more light is getting to the area stimulating leaf growth, which means problem solved. If that's not the case than either way (coppice or transplant) the area's not going to look good for a season or two (or more if transplanting).

Thank you, sam, for answering. I just went and looked, and yes the leaves are opposite, not alternate. Gosh, you really know your boxwood! I did not know what kind they were. I only know that they were about a foot tall when I bought them over 20 years ago. So, what do you think we should do with them? If you don't think they need to be pruned, then I would like to go in and clean out the dead leaves that have worked their way into the interior over the years, prune out the very few pieces of branches that are brown, and then tie them in a few places to give them a more tidy look. If you think this is a good plan, should I cut some garden hose, and then put some sort of roping inside of that to protect the bark and support them this way? What type of rope/cord should I use which won't degrade in the weather?