You really need to put your location in all your posts......USDA zone and/or closest large city. It makes a huge difference in knowing how to respond.

I'm going to make a wild guess and assume you are somewhere in the PNW as the evergreens other than the pines look like western red cedars, Thuja plicata. They are native here and not commonly grown a lot of other places. The brown splotching you see on them is called 'flagging' and it is a completely natural shedding of old foliage. It is a bit elevated this year, as we had such a hot and dry summer and the trees respond to drought by shedding more foliage to reduce water demands.

The pines look like the lower branches have been shaded out by close placement. But various pine species can have issues here so it could be something else a bit more sinister. If you could take close ups of the needles and count how many in each cluster, it would make them easier to ID. If our native western white pine, Pinus monticola, I would say to look for white pine blister rust as it is extremely common and is affecting many of these trees.

Third the motion nothing wrong and just needle cast and shading.

Oh, I'm sorry. I live in an outlying suburb of Columbus, in Central Ohio. It's a pretty damp area with a creek that resolutely floods a high-water mark a few dozen yards away from the trees.

I'll try to get some closer pictures sometime later today. I'm sorry for not knowing any better. :(

poor pic on pines ... interior browning.. yellowing is normal ...

and maturity ... they just arent full pretty xmas trees as they get older.. they are telephone pole trees ...

second plant... thuja of some kind.. and the yellow/brown things are cones ...

ken

cut them all down and replace with something else I hate both of those types of trees I agree with ken_adrian telephone pole trees

"and the yellow/brown things are cones ."

Not cones - that's flagging. And completely natural.

And as to another poster 'hating' the trees, that is entirely immaterial to the issue at hand. Who cares?? It's not your garden. If the OP values the trees and is concerned about them, then a response to any concerns is all that is required, not your opinion about what you like or don't like. Sheesh!!

that is entirely immaterial to the issue at hand. Who cares??

==>>> i dont know ... lol ... perhaps it could have been phrased better ... let me try ...

these are overly mature plants.... and they are what they are ... you are not going to reverse time.. and make them look like the young studs they used to be.. especially the pine ...

it may be time for removal ... but it doesnt have to be right now.. nor all at once ... you ought to consider getting some replacements planted.. so they can get growing in the next few years.. with a plan to then remove the older things ...

as i stated not great pix.. i could have sworn they looked like cones ... but it could be flagging... either way .. entirely normal ....

ken

BTW ... is that your house .. or the neighbors... either way.. i would NEVER have trees like these.. planted that close .. is that the property line??? .. why were they put there???

ken, it's not a matter of better phrasing - it's the inappropriateness of the response. There are many trees that I don't particularly favor but I would never suggest someone remove them from their garden simply because I didn't care for them. It's highly presumptuous!! Plant what you want in your own garden but leave others to their own choices.

Removal of existing trees just because they have matured beyond their initial young appeal is also a matter of personal choice. And while it may be uncommon in some parts of the country - those areas that are not heavily treed to begin with - having large trees planted in close proximity to a house or other structure are also not unheard of. In many cases, the trees were in place before construction. If the trees are otherwise healthy and not currently causing conflict with the structure, just their close proximity is not a requirement for their removal. If that were the case, the tree removal guys in my area would be booked years in advance!! Large native trees are very common in gardens here, even smaller urban and suburban gardens, and instances of falling trees or limbs are rather infrequent. In some cases, removal of any existing trees, especially native species, requires approval from local authorities.

Actually, this is a good object lesson in planting evergreens for screening the neighbors. There are good ideas and bad ideas, and bad ideas end up looking like this.

gardengal48, no harm meant I am trying to help the OP by suggesting that they are not ideal trees in my opinion i have fought with those specimens many times and usaully I cut them down when hired to do tree trimming

I am assuming the trees are white pine and arborvitae. White pines inevitably lose their lower branches after a number of years. There really is nothing you can do to restore branch growth on the lower trunk. You can, however, compensate. First have the dead branches removed. This is a dangerous job because of the possibility of dead wood falling on the trimmer, so it's best left to professionals. You can now plant beneath the pine's canopy. The soil will be rooty and not terribly fertile, but there are a number of species - hemlock is an obvious evergreen one - which will compete successfully with care and supplemental watering. Arborvitaes often will put out new branches. Prune out any obviously dead stuff, think positive thoughts and watch for new emerging growth next spring. You can also thicken the overall growth by pinching existing branches next spring.

Logan L. Johnson: If you really mean no harm, how about swearing off the aggressive, impolite and imperious commands to cut down anything that does not conform to your standards of personal taste?

if you got high pH that could be another reason its occuring