Pruning Overgrown Yew
Fori
18 years ago
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Fori
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Prune overgrown yews or hack them down?
Comments (5)I have several of them, and I'm just pruning them now. I don't like a shorn geometric look, so I prune them a branch at a time, with plain old hand pruners. It's tedious, but I think it looks more natural. The object is to cut out the longest branches, that contain most of the previous year's growth. Yours have gone for more than a year without pruning, but the technique is the same. Stand well back, and look at each plant. Decide what shape you want it to have, and then just start cutting. Here are before and after photos. Again, I wouldn't cut them round like this, but the photos will show you what branches are removed. Look at the wall and window behind the shrub, and the bed beneath it, and you'll see how much it's size was reduced....See MoreCan I prune yew bushes now?
Comments (3)you might find some references in older posts.. in the conifer forum .... that are on point ... how tall are these.. how long they been there.. and were they planted ON the foundation 20.. 30.. 40 years ago??? .. i grew up in livonia.. trust me.. i know the look ... lol .. if so.. you are going to have an unsightly mess... for many years to come.. in FRONT OF YOUR HOUSE ... you might be better off removing them.. and starting over ... conifers.. do not react to pruning.. like shrubs.. you will probably have big ugly knobs.. in plain site for at least a few years ... a pic would sure help define the situation.. otherwise.. there is no wrong time to prune things in MI ... ken ps: give it a go. the worst that can happen.. is that next summer you understand what i was trying to tell you.. and get rid of them next year.. lol .. Here is a link that might be useful: 2nd link.. second pix and caption .. and note.. its not in the prime focal point of the front of the house ... are you willing to look at that for 3 years.. out the front window????...See MoreOvergrown Yew
Comments (1)Looks more like a juniper, though the pic resolution isn't good enough to be sure Resin...See MorePruning my Yews?.
Comments (8)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....See Morereginacw
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