hi .. congrats on the new digs ... first.. its a conifer.. the reason that is important.. is that you prune/trim conifers differently than you do flowering shrubs .... a little learning ... and the term 'evergreen' only means its green in winter ... which covers MANY different kinds of plants .... and though it is technically a tree ... we dont prune it like we prune the other kinds of tree ... but i digress .. you have two problems... the first as you suspect is the shade [yeah, yeah.. keep reading] .. it was probably planted in full sun.. when the trees were smaller.. sever pruning in shade is going to lead to one but ugly plant.. IN FRONT OF YOUR HOUSE.. for MANY years to come ... think hard.. is this really what you want as the prime specimen.. welcoming visitors to your new.. humble abode .... i would NOT ... so it isnt really an issue of IF it can be done.. rather an issue of do you really want to do IT ... OK.. i re-read the pesky facts.. they are now in full sun ... the important part.. is still how you want to present the front of your house... with a renovation project or some nice new... YOUNG stock ... which leads to the second problem... an overly mature ... most likely planted-too-close-to-the-house foundation planting ... again.. you have a 5 year renovation of an old man here .... i might do it 250 feet out from my house on my 5 acres.. but i wouldn do it in front of my house .... i dont care what you do to grandpa.. no amount of exercise or steroids is going to make him a healthy young stud again ... lol ... can it be done.. probably .. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO IT>>> only you can answer ... if you are gung ho on giving it a try .. a picture would really help define exactly what need be done .... a proper ID would be the place to start.. and that can be done with a pic.. over in the conifer forum ... leaves/needles, bark and cones [which might look like berries on this one] MOST conifers .. any branch left after pruning without green will die ... they will not regrow green [again, subject to full ID] ... so where and how to prune can be very tricky ... good luck ken

More pictures here http://s91.photobucket.com/user/Kurt_Cob/slideshow/Pump

Ferns, ferns, ferns!!! Sounds like a very cool hedge. I think your concerns about messing it up with dying perennials is well-founded. I wouldn't underestimate the charm of leaving things as they are, with yews and moss. True, you don't get much variety through the year... but is it variety you want, or just an additional element in there? If the latter, have you considered any hardscape? Rocks, a brick or granite edging, or even a stepping stone pathway across/down the slope? If you want plants, I'd go with a combination of rhodos and ferns. Yes, I know this is the conifers forum, and conifers can do a bit in those conditions, but not much. There are some cool dwarf hemlocks, for instance - I love my Tsuga canadensis 'Curly". But overall I'd put in a variety of ferns, maybe some hostas, a couple of hellebores, which I think would be fine in those conditions, and ferns. If you wanted to keep the look formal you could get the big ferns and give them some room - Royal fern, cinnamon fern, interrupted fern... would have to check hardiness on those... or the bigger spreading ones if you want a lower look - tassel fern, for instance. Some fern fronds are evergreen, but they get tatty and you can cut them off any time you like. Ferns and moss? Swoon! I can't stand growing heucheras for a variety of reasons - one is the ascending crown of the plant - and I don't think they'd do well there. KarinL

I generally dislike Yews...largely because they were misused years ago so you see many horrible examples. However, I agree with sc77. The great uses for Yews are: 1.) They are more shade tolerant then most popular conifers. 2.) The fact they are one of the few conifers that regenerates from old wood means they take better to pruning then almost all other conifers. This means they are one of the few evergreen shrubs that grows well in colder climates or New England that can be pruned into formal "boxy" hedges or topiary. Taken together, these two facts mean you can often squeeze one in where few other confers would work...if you want some green in the winter or an evergreen privacy screen. I prefer holly for this use. Not overly concerned with the fact they are poisonous. I grew up in a house with a yew hedge and neither me, my siblings, or are pets were ever tempted to try to eat it. The problem...and the reason they get a bad rap...is they lend themselves to a formal look that is a LOT of work to maintain. Lots of people some years back put in formal yew hedges emulating a look popularized by British landed gentry with professional groundskeepers. Then after a few years they...or a subsequent owner...lost interest or didn't have the time to maintain the hedges. Thus you have lots of yew hedges that are in an ugly phase halfway between formal and natural, often with garbage inside them. Not a good look. And there are the ones that were squeezed in on the (optimistic) assumption they would be regularly pruned to keep them small. In cold climates or places with a lot of deer they get devoured by deer that run out of other food sources in the winter. Their ability to regenerate probably does mean they are better able to recover from occasional exploratory nibbling by curious-but-well-fed deer then most conifers would be.