Kirkus, that is just so wonderful a mama bird chose your wreath for her nest. Those pics are great. Years ago I was cutting the hedges straight across like you're supposed to and didn't realize there was a new bird's nest just about to the top of the hedge with eggs in it. After my trimming, the nest was too exposed to the elements and the hot sun and (you're gonna laugh), but I actually constructed this little canapy out of sticks and a dishtowel so they would have some protection. That mama bird was going nuts up on our roof watching me do this. She returned to the nest though. I would sneek over to the nest when she wasn't around and peek in to see what was going on. One day they had hatched and the babies looked like little wet worms with fuzz. My son got a real kick out of that. A little bit later when I peeked, there were four sets of eyes and beaks staring right back at me. Soon after they left the nest and I felt good that I had helped save them after I had destroyed their protection. Kudz - I'm another one going to say OMG, what a horrible thing to have gone through. I can just see you yelling at your son to "take care of that thing!!" My roommate from the Navy and I went up North of Gulfport for a summer ride one day and ended up at a huge lake where we went swimming and had a picnic. She was walking around the area when all of a sudden she came running back towards me screaming - Snake, Snake! I jumped up of course and was frantic from her screaming thinking the worse had happened to her. She made me hurry up and get everything packed up in the car cause she wanted to leave immediately. She told me to drive slowly down the road because the snake was still there. In the middle of the road was the most largest snake I had ever seen. I mean that thing was "huge" - I kid you not when I say it was around four feet long and had a girth of about 15 inches. We never went back to that pond area again.

It looks to me as though Ken is correct - the cultivars you have are too big for the spots they are planted in. If you or your significant other LIKE trimmed shapes in front of the house, and like the labor involved in keeping them trimmed, then you have the correct bushes - you will have to trim them back at least every spring, and maybe in the summer as well. You need to keep them below the windows, and you need to keep them away from the house, to allow for air circulation. Were the shrubs there when you bought the property, or did you plant them yourself? If the former, it looks like you have inherited some wrongly placed shrubs, and if you did it, I think you may have succumbed to the common plaint that a plant in a one-gallon nursery pot looks awfully small, so "it doesn't REALLY need to be planted as far apart from its neighbors or the house as the tag/book/nurseryman says." If you want more naturally shaped bushes, and don't want to be constantly grooming them, then I suggest that these get moved elsewhere on your property, and you look into various shrubs that will stay the size you ultimately want - which might take a few years, depending on how big the plants you are able to buy are at the time of planting. However, like hair, plants do grow, so they will get to the size you want. Your photos came through partly, and then stopped - I think my computer needs work done - so I can't see the whole effect, but it is obvious that they are wanting to grow taller than your windows, and you will have a constant struggle to keep them lower. They may be too close to the house as well, I can't tell. If you look through garden books or magazines, drive around your neighborhood, and then decide what look you want for the front of the house, then people here will be more than happy to give advice as to choices. You will have to look the suggestions up, in books or on line, so you know the characteristics of the plants, including mature height, and can then make an informed decision as to whether you want the plant in question. You also have to decide if it CAN grow in your zone or not... Good luck.

How nice this thread got bumped! I enjoyed re-reading it and thinking about how much the yard has changed in a year. My bird-friendly yard is evolving. Have made great progress removing invasives, particularly Bittersweet, Buckthorn, and Norway Maples (treework cost me $2000 last year and there's still one GINORMOUS Norway maple left). There was a lot of brush created by all this tree/shrub work. Some was burned this Spring, right smack in the middle of the Oriental bittersweet patch, but the rest is in piles. The brush piles attract a lot of birds, particularly Sparrows, Cardinals, Juncos, and Wrens. The birds also love the back half-acre, which is wild and full of Crabapples, Choke Cherries, White Pine, and still some invasives like Honeysuckle and Autumn olive. Also making great progress on growing bird-friendly natives. Purchased another 50 native tree/shrub seedlings from the NH Nursery. That makes 130 total between this year and last - all of which ultimately make berries/nuts for the birds and wildlife. Most of them are in holding beds and haven't flowered yet, too little, but I've given away some and started to plant out a few. I winter-sowed many native species of perennials, annuals, and vines. Exactly where all this stuff is going, is not completely clear at this point, but I'm creating lasagne beds like crazy! The birds are always flitting around the yard and it's only going to get more interesting and fruitful for them (hopefully). It's great!

Yes, I think we feed every single bird and squirrel in our town by the amount of $ we spend on seed, plus bread and peanuts. We have 4 feeders plus a hummingbird feeder and birdbath in our back yard and 5 feeders plus a hummingbird feeder in our front yard, plus two tube feeders and 3 watering dishes/birdbaths. We call our front yard our "Wildlife Entertainment Center". Some of those crazy squirrels we have named: Barny, Metal, Logger, Chewy, Loco and Loco Jr. Soon we will have an influx of redwinged blackbirds that will strip all feeders clean. This happens twice a year. They stay around at least 3 months each time.Our feed bill doubles then. Our hummers have left now to travel further south and won't return until April. Sure miss those little darlings.