looks like you have a bit of a dementor problem there ... lol ..

a close up would help .. but odds are.. they are dwarf alberta spruce ... properly called.. for search purposes ...Picea glauca 'conica'

they are a dime a dozen .. way too common ... poorly sited to the house.. too close ... and probably getting bare on the back ...

you can do so much better ...

IMHO.. they arent worth the effort to move them ...

but if you and the dementors favor such .. knock yourself out ...

on your redesign.. understand.. that foundation plantings.. are planted to hide the foundation.. NOT ON THE FOUNDATION... learn the potential of what you buy.. and plant them far enough from whatever.. that you dont need to be shearing or topping them ...

ken

LOL, my little dementors. Thanks for your help! Yes, the landscaping here was obviously not well-researched or planned. I am not a fan of trees close to the house, and this yard is pretty evergreen-heavy. I plan on moving the yews to use as a hedge for the chain link dog run in the back yard, and was thinking of interspersing these with them as well. They are bare on the back, but the dog run needs to look good just from the side that's facing out (I don't think the pups will be offended by bare trees.) and then I could spend my money on shade perennials for the front garden, instead of buying shrubs for the fence line. Are they pretty hardy? I know when my parents moved a tree, they dug a trench around it and waited til spring to move it. I would like to just haul these out annd move them. It sounds like I won't lose out much if they dont survive the transplant, though.

Look like dwarf Alberta spruce - with bug problems. After removal do not repeat matching pair of identical shrubs effect as your house facade is not geometrically symmetric.

ok.. lets cut the dog poop ...

THEY ARENT WORTH THE EFFORT ...

you can buy new ones for 5 to 10 bucks... last time i bought them .. at bigboxstore ...

if you are expanding the bed.. cut them flush to the ground.. and they are dead ... cover with mulch .. increase front bed by 7 to 10 feet.. and leave about 3 feet for house maintenance .. especially if painting is required ...

no.. the old folks did it old school ... if you insist.. dig a 2 foot wide by 2 deep hole ... dig out plant to about the same size... drag its butt back there.. stick in hole.. backfill half.. try to drown it.. refill second half.. water again .. and hope your hours of hard labor are worth it ..

one stress.. and done.. none of this.. stressing it multiple times..

ken

Wow, if I can just cut them and leave the root ball, I'll probably do that. I'm planning on widening the bed significantly and doing a natural curved/assymetrical edge, planting with native perennials. I guess maybe I'll buy nice evergreens for the fence cover. I have thought these were ugly from the moment I saw them, but I just hate killing stuff and the yards are basically grass with poorly placed evergreens here and there, so I was trying to reuse what I could. Sounds like I should just kiss these goodbye, though. Thank you all for your input!