June is a great time to trim up your boxwoods. These guys can be susceptible to disease -- one way to help keep them healthy is in the way you prune them.
No shrub grows in nature as a tightly clipped hedge or topiary. If you want to keep one in a particular shape, it is best to use your hand clippers to gently trim it back. The more dense your shrub is, the more susceptible it is to disease, so create some open space anywhere the leaves are densely packed for better air circulation. Of course, always trim out any dead or damaged branches.
Please DO NOT use shears or powered hedge trimmers. Those tools are really unnecessary for almost all shrub pruning jobs. A more gentle approach will result in a healthier plant, and really does not take that much longer.
Check out the before of this shaggy little guy. He is only about 12 to 14 inches wide, but you can see how just a gentle trim has tidied him up. I'm letting my boxwoods grow in a more natural shape, and just trim up their flyaways each June.
Let me know if you have any questions about pruning other shrubs!