Ok, so the message I get is a hardy boxwood -- like winter gem -- or maybe keep the yews. A bit more background: first, my dear hubbie has fond memories of the of the look and scent of the large boxwoods his grandmother had in North Carolina. Yup, I know, the scent of boxwoods is hated by many, and um, yup, New York is not North Carolina. But I love my dear hubbie and he likes boxwoods. As for the yews: I would be very tempted to hack away at them to about two feet, deal with completely ugly bare tops and sides for a season... and I suspect in time they would fill in, and not be constantly overgrown. In fact, I did this with the back of the hedge and that has happened somewhat, even with little light because it is the back. Further difficulties: previous owners planted WAY too many evergreens in one bed. An 8' long hedge of yews, a yew conifer, and a few yew-like (sorry!) round bushes a couple of feet in front. AND a spruce. They've all grown into each other, and so there are bare spots in the two evergreen trees in the bed. The front shorter bushes are getting pulled, the spruce will need to be pulled due to bare spots... So the question is, how to manage the back hedge and the yew "Christmas" tree, which I think will have a bare spot after removing a plant in front of it. Sigh! Any suggestions? I know the bare spot on the spruce won't fill in. Will the yew tree fill in? I think it is a yew. Or something similar... Sorry for the long post, thanks for any suggestions that are out there!

They look very nice and seem to be ready for a very productive year of beautiful blooms. I took your advice and bought one each of Blue Heaven and Together, will plant them this weekend. Plus 5 ES I planted in early May so lot of watering to do. But I look forward to a yard with them bloom as good as yours. Hopefully they will all survive and do well. The reason that I am a little concerned is that I planted two hardy hydrageas last summer, they did ok then, but this year so far lot of new branches and nice leaves, but no buds yet. Not sure if I pruned them too early (I was new at this last fall so I may have pruned them last fall when they are done with blooming). but now I know better. Thanks for your help again. I learned so much from you and other experienced posters here.

I'm in zone 5 Ottawa,Canada. Zone 4 for you in the US. They used to say you couldn't grow J.maples around here. But for 20 years I always could, and have never lost any, except 2 variegated ones. I have about 25 varieties, a sort of J. maple forest in my back yard & I am running out of room. Good thing they are dwarf trees, unlike our native maples that grow to 50 ft. I wholesale them from (grown in)BC, zone 7-8. They do not loose hardiness by grafting and propagating in a milder climate. The hardiness is built into the plant. I will say that they can sometimes be slow to establish, and this is the important part. Any tree should be planted early and well cared for in the first season, so it is well established going into it's first winter. I don't believe in bare root trees doing well, too slow to establish, or over wintering in a pot. They should always be planted in the ground and well mulched. I do think they prefer a more acidic soil. Ours is neutral approx. 6-7ph, so I spread sulphur everywhere every couple of years to acidify a little.(I don't like pink hydrangeas, prefer blue) I saw a study once, out of U of Michigan I think, where when they tested plants, and they found that plants growing in acidic soil seemed a little hardier than the same plants growing in more alkaline soils. In the past I have used geo-textile fleece as a winter cover for the first few winters, but snow makes a great insulator as well. I get a bit of tip dieback sometimes, but it doesn't matter since they grow back very well, as if they were pruned. There is a sort of wilt going around in J. maples lately, others have noticed as well. It doesn't hurt the tree, it just attacks some of the newest growing tips as they are finished flushing out in summer....sort of self pruning. We regularly get to minus 22 celcius (-10 far.)here most winters, with minimal problems. Even with last winter, the worst in 20 yrs., there were no losses. The only damage I ever notice is the heavy snow pack in spring, will sometimes crack the weeping types as it weighs them down and melts. Variegated types do seem less hardy, possibly due to the fact that variegation is a mutation and therefore weaker. Red and green types are perfectly hardy. They all seem hardier as they get older. thanks, Rich

Ken- I know there is a heart of gold under that rough exterior, lol. I just recently started up on gardenweb after a few years of absence, but I remember you fondly. Always good advice, if not blunt. I guess I am an old school kinda gal. If it's worked for me in the past I will continue to do it. The plants are 2ft tall and 1 1/2ft wide, with the root ball the same width and about 1ft deep....so a good "gob" of soil with each. They've been there 5 years. The project requires 50 shrubs, so 10 for insurance. I think it would work transplanting them now if I kept them moist and mulched, it's already getting cooler here. It's the winter dryness/winds I am concerned about. Maybe a burlap screen for the first year or two? Thanks for replying.