The shrub with symptoms is a Boxwood, and it appears to have one or more of the very common boxwood pests. At the very least, it seems to have Boxwood Psyllid, but other pests that we can't see very clearly may also be present. Usually, despite the prominent residues left by the psyllids, they do not cause a plant enough damage to warrant using pesticides to manage them. Even when pesticides are useful, they are typically applied prior to now, so you have limited options at this point. Fortunately, they are essentially finished feeding this time of year and will effectively disappear soon until next spring. You can view additional images for comparison on this psyllid images page.

You can inspect the plant for any other issues addressed in our Boxwood: Identify and Manage Common Problems page. Leafminer is a common boxwood pest and tends to cause more damage than psyllids, though the two can occur together and their feeding periods overlap. The simplest pesticide-free way to address either is to trim off the outer branch tips in late spring or early summer that show signs of feeding damage - cupping for the psyllid and blister-like blotches for the leafminer. That said, this type of pruning on a sheared plant can result in even denser leaf growth than is ideal, which only makes plants more vulnerable to infestation or infection in the future. Over the long term, boxwoods grow best with minimal trimming or the type of selective trimming known as thinning. (There's a description of thinning on our Pruning Shrubs and Hedges page, plus a boxwood-specific video at the bottom of the page.) For now, a strong blast of water from a garden hose will probably dislodge whatever psyllids and psyllid residues are left.

The red-leaved shrub is Japanese Barberry which, like the Burning Bush, spreads invasively from seed into natural areas and ideally should be replaced with a different non-invasive species. The fact that the Burning Bush are also too densely planted or closer to the house than you prefer is another good reason to replace them, as you mentioned. Neither of the boxwood pests will affect either plant, or any other species you may replace them with. There aren't many alternative shrubs whose leaves are quite the same shade of red as the barberry, but there are several cultivars of some shrubs whose leaves are maroon, bronzy, or burgundy-toned. If this is not a critical aesthetic trait, then you have plenty of options for both shrubs and perennials. As a replacement for the Burning Bush, several native and non-native shrub species get showy fall foliage color (more than what's listed on its linked page); perhaps not as fluorescent-red, but still red or a medley of colors and longer-lasting.

You don't need to remove the boxwood as its condition is not serious, but if you find it simpler to replace it anyway, you can either plant a different species of shrub (or perennial) or select a cultivar of boxwood that won't outgrow its space (to limit trimming) and which is noted to be resistant to leafminer and disease (usually boxwood blight).


Miri