These are mature junipers, and should have never been planted there. The green foliage is only in the outer 8 in to a foot, inside there are only woody branches. You would need to cut them back to 1/4 or 1/3 of present size, which would show all the inner cut-off branches. They might survive, since you asked, but would have no green foliage on the top.

I would cut them off, dig out the stumps and replace them with shorter conifers or deciduous bushes. When buying read on the attached plastic cards the mature size, which might be only at age of 10 years. You need bushes with mature height of 2-3 ft. Thereafter watch their growth and prune them to their desired heigth.

In other words the tags probably won't give mature sizes, but rather something that will be achieved much sooner - such as 10 years after planting.

Tags on dwarf- or slow-growing shrubs may be more likely to indicate a state of development you will seen than those for larger- and faster-growing kinds. Nurseries are wary of scaring people away from bigger plants, tend to understate size potential.

Look more like Arborvitae Thuja occidentalis to me, not junipers. If you want to keep them, remove the house.

Resin

valeriavictrix, don't be scared of planting a replacement which will only be good for a decade. After all in 2020 you just might want a different look anyways.

Indeed, it's a Thuja occidentalis, not a Juniperus.

it does NOT matter what they are.. they have to go ....

if they were 4 acres out... in the back of my 5 acres ... i MIGHT consider cutting them like you suggest.. and 'SEEING' if they recover in 5 to 10 years .. but i would NOT bet a pretty penny that they would ever look nice again ...

if you go stick your head inside.. you will find that it is all dead inside.. as the plant grew.. it shaded out the interior .... and those leaves naturally died ... not a big deal ...

but when you go cut off half of the plant.. you will have a GIANT brown patch on the top of the plant ... which most likely.. will not fill in.. or if it does.. will take the 5 to 10 years noted ...

is that really what you want to look at EVERY TIME YOU LOOK OUT THE WINDOW????

in the alternative.. is that what you want every visitor to the front door to be looking at???

it is the prime location of the front of the house.. you need something spectacular there.. not a decade long renovation project ...

be honest.. you know that ...

now.. foundation plantings.. are planted TO HIDE THE FOUNDATION .... whoever planted those.. mis-understood and planted them ON THE FOUNDATION ...

the cheap out here is to cut them flush to the ground and kill the stump.. and when you go to plant something new.. you plant them a few more feet away from the house ... and leave a couple of feet at the foundation ... for things like painting the house etc ....

i suggest you take a walk around the 'hood'.... and look at other foundation plantings.. with these thoughts in mind.. and see who did it right.. or most likely ... already corrected the problem .... [been there done that.. with mom and dads 1960's house .. where they ended up with 10 foot conifers planted 18 inches from the cement wall ....]

in the alternative... cut everything off.. leaving a 3 foot trunk.. and then start digging .. and start cutting roots.. and use the trunk for leverage to wiggle it all around during the project ....IF DIGGING.. INSURE THERE ARE NO BURIED UTILITIES UNDER THERE... a quick call to miss dig will clear that up ...

IMHO ..... its all about 'the look' of your house .... the aesthetic.. its not about saving a buck by trying to 'save' a lost cause .....

good luck

ken

Thanks to EVERYONE, and especially you, Ken! You must be psychic when you said, "[been there done that.. with mom and dads 1960's house .. where they ended up with 10 foot conifers planted 18 inches from the cement wall ....]" I'm in the exact same situation!

I would LOVE to have these things gone! But it's my 85-year-old father's house, and he's fragile emotionally and mentally these days, and is terrified of change. I'm worried that a big project with strangers coming around would freak him out. (You can't imagine the nightmare we had replacing the furnace and putting on new siding.)

But I think that Ken's idea ("the cheap out here is to cut them flush to the ground and kill the stump.. and when you go to plant something new.. you plant them a few more feet away from the house ... and leave a couple of feet at the foundation ... for things like painting the house etc ....") might be doable. There wouldn't be all that stump-digging going on, and I wouldn't have to risk damaging the utility lines.

There's a chainsaw in the basement, and if I manage to learn how to use it without decapitating myself I can have replacement shrubs ready to put in (farther away from the house) as soon as these trees are gone. Or can I use an axe? Fortunately, I am remarkable strong for a middle-aged chick and would be eager to tackle this if brute force can make up for skill and experience : )

Ken, if I manage to do this, I'll think about you when we get sunlight through that window for the first time since 1975!

I trust Gardenwebbers' taste in these matters. What's something evergreen that's not fussy or disease-prone? The house faces north and I'm in northeast PA.

Thanks again!

I just had a team of arborists at my house cut down two 40 ft trees and 6 junipers, ground the stubs out, removed everything, in 45 minutes, for $265. Perhaps you can find a landscaping group cut down those three plants, grind out the stumps and plant 3 smaller growing ones in their place for $200. You could call around for an estimate and ask if they can do this at a certain time slot when your father visits a doctor.

Maybe a deciduous layout would be better :
Acer palmatum 'Callico'
{{gwi:664013}}

Acer palmatum Skeeter's Broom
{{gwi:664014}}

Add two purple-leaved Rhododendrons on each side of 'Callico' (PJM varieties) - then a trio of Deutzia 'Nikko' then the 'Skeeter's Broom' - then a yellow flowering Rhododendron (Broadleaf). Not all deciduous but a well-balanced-look/finish.

Here I show you a quick sketch (you can add more 'Nikko' Deutzia under the other plants, etc) :
{{gwi:664015}}

Dax

(PJM Group) cultivar 'Elite' is the latest to bloom and that's what I'd recommend.

Dax

Thank you SO MUCH!!

Berndnyz5, you actually helped my with ANOTHER problem--since my first post, I had a tree felled by a storm in the BACK yard. I had already dismissed the idea of getting a pro with a stump grinder as too expensive, but you give me hope! It would be great to have somebody else take care of my tree problems : )

Dax, I LOVE it! There are about a million massive gloomy pines in the back yard--deciduous would brighten things up!

Can I get your reommended plants at a local nursery?

valeria,

I would think so. Callico/Calico is the least common. Both the Acer's may need to be mail-ordered. The rest are common items.

Says above I've exceeded my bandwith but if you click on the icons anyway, you can still see the photos.

Glad you liked it!

Cheers,

Dax

Calico good price

Twombley's Red Sentinel is also sold at Mendocino Maples and is faster than Skeeter's Broom. It's a better choice.
Both at good/fair prices.

Dax