This being a well established Yew, it probably doesn't need fertilization but if you were so inclined, Holly Tone would work and fertilize it in the spring. It should grow back from the 'dead' section. You are correct though, that it shouldn't have been cut back that far. I'm guessing whoever cut it wanted to get it off the sidewalk.

Thanks squoidendron. It's actually the neighbor's driveway. Was getting a little too close to his cars.

Yeah that happens. These things can get gigantic if left unpruned. I've been told that before we bought our house, there were Yews lining each side of the driveway. They were overgrowing it so bad you couldn't even get a car in there.

It's a taxus (yew) as sequoia said. As you can see they're not intended to be cut back so severely, not to mention being trimmed into a cube shape. It shouldn't die this winter because of it, though.

in our clime.. its not going to grow back any time soon ...

get rid of it.. its old.. overly mature.. improperly sited and it aint pretty ...

its time...

you given it a full year... so what will giving it another year... twice as much fill in ... lol

ken

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your input, however 2 months isn't exactly "a full year". Most of the new growth pictured is less than a month old. We have roughly 3 more months of growing in this "clime".

Perhaps if it isn't much fuller by next spring, I'll pull it out and replace.

GG beat me to it. Yew can be cut back very severely and will regrow. In fact to keep this one off the driveway it could be cut back even harder since once it re grows it will be back to square one.

Looks like it already is a square one.