Thanks for your comments on my shrub problem. My husband worked for the Connecticut DEP for 37 years before he retired and I am very aware of most of the invasive plants. I didn't know that the burning bush (which we had in our backyard until last Fall when we removed it) was on the invasive plant list but I was aware of barberry and, being a longtime garden club member, wouldn't have planted it...for several reasons. I realize that all of the yew bushes should be removed as they have become very overgrown in the 28 years since we planted them but replacing them is very costly and we are hoping to do it gradually. Our house sits far back from the road so we do need something eyecatching and colorful. Thanks, also, for your suggestion about posting on another forum.

no.. just cut down every other plant in the hedge .. yes.. you will remove 50 % ... but you leave 50% more sight blocking.. than if you cut down the whole hedge.. heck.. i dont know whats back there ... maybe some 400 pound nudist.. of which i might prefer to see only 200 pounds.. lol .. [on the other hand.. i might just gouge my eyes out .. lol] frankly... if seedlings are an issue.. kill them all.. and plant a non-invasive hedge ... crikey ... i surely wouldnt put up with hours of seedling slaughter .. repeatedly during the growing year.. for decades to come ..... when the same amount of time.. could have me done with the whole .. FOREVER ... trust me.. you can do a whole lot better than ROS ... and a method for such.. would be... to remove one or two at each end... and plant replacements.. and then over the next few season... taking more and more.. until you replace the hedge ... thereby maintaining some semblance of sight blocking ... or do it all at once ... they are a problem.. you know they are a problem... and you are hoping there is an easy solution.. NO!! .. there isnt.. get rid of them .... lol.. do whatever pleases you .. i am just playing devils advocate ... listen.. when i bought my first house.. i was going to save all the plants.. for the history of the house... and i dealt with a bunch of nightmares... the happiest day in that garden was about 5 years later.. when i removed the last nightmare... because by then.. i figured out the prior owner was an idiot .. and planted a bunch of nightmares... so once removed.. i planted the next owners nightmares.. and then sold the house.. with the nightmares.. about 5 years later.. good luck with that.. lol ... BUT!!! .. the first thing i did at house #2 ... i chainsawed every bad plant.. the first summer ... live and learn ... and they all burned.. rather nicely ... lol .. just think about not putting up.. with a bad plant.. just because it is there ... ken

My family had a large tree (not quite as big as you describe) and they would cut all the branches back to the main trunk. New branches would form from the ground and along the trunk. I would think you could even go as far as cutting the main trunk to the ground and new growth would come up.

i was in the same frame of mind on Mother's Day weekend after backing up my husband's car and scratching the heck out of the side of it on overgrown yews that were making the driveway more and more narrow. We went at them with a lopper ($30 from Home Depot). I cut up all the branches fairly small. I could fit one bush into 2 lawn bags once I cut the branches into smallish pieces. I dumped 5 bushes at the town compost pile. My plan was to plant hostas in between to mostly disguise the stumps till they grew in. But we decided to heck with it, and we dug up all the stumps too. It was not hard, but I should add that my husband and I are avid weightlifters, so perhaps we are outside the norm in thinking this was easy. We decided to go for it since the neighbors had a dumpster and said we could put anything in it - so there went the stumps! In future summers I'd like to do the same thing to all the yews in front of my house. At the very least, I have to do a lot of trimming now, because they are getting really big. Same logic - if they survive some heavy pruning, great. If not, then next year look into new shrubs.