What kind of plants are they and where are you located?

Well there are more attractive alternatives, sure.

Or you could bone up on proper pruning techniques (as opposed to shearing as they look to have had done in the past) and get those back into a better looking shape in a couple of seasons.

How patient are you?

if you have the will and budget.. replace ...

otherwise.. get full ID ... then google REJUVENATION PRUNING OF SHRUBS.... and go at them ...

the first is incredibly to tall for the location on the corner of the hous.e. i dont know why you want to regain that height ...

make sure the second is actually on your property ... i dont know why i assum that is the neighbors driveway ...

if you remove... fall planting is probably better than the heat of summer ... so you have time to decide ...

an actual city name might help ...

on review.. get rid of the first.. its planted to close to the house.. for the obvious potential it has ... cutting it back.. with no insult to the mature root mass.. means its going to be that big again in a few years.. or you are going to be whacking on it annually ....

ken

how about you go stand in the street.. and give us a pic or 3.. of the whole front landscape .... and let us opine on the whole project???

the point of a proper planting time.. is that you have a couple months to plan.. and remove that which you want gone ... also .. depending on location ... winter or spring is the other best times ....

for most of us... the heat of summer.. is not a great planting time.. because there is no cool night time recovery period after the heat of the day ... so we look for a season that has such ....

below is a planting guide.. which addresses proper planting time .. among other things..

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

btw.. that plant on the driveway.. is what dad would have planted.. to keep the basketball from the neighbors property.. back in the day ... but he was a sadist.. he planted barberry... lol ...

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies. Here are some more photos.

The tall one-

The other by the garage/driveway.

I live in a western suburb of Chicago.

I like the height because it hides the shed and my garbage
cans on the side of the house.

This last picture is the one the Ken thought might not be on my
property. This is on right side of the house, and the really tall one is on the
left if you’re looking from the street.

Thanks!

all your shrubs look like they were planted when the house was built.. or at least all planted at the same time a decade or two back ...

were improperly sited .. planted with no concept of their potential size [planted too close to the house] ... and not properly maintained thru proper pruning ...

since your are new buyers.. its nice to not have to dance around you being at fault.. lol ..

your first decision is whether replacement is an option ... maybe even on a 5 year plan ... really.. whats the hurry ... certain ones do serve a purpose ....

then buy a good pruning saw ... and study up on rejuvenation pruning .. and go at them ... if you totally hack them up.. and hate the result ..... you are well on your way to removal ... lol ...

it looks like your tree is a crabapple that is suckering... if fully IDd.. you can buy a spray for that ...

one thing for sure... with pruning.. there is always next year ...

define your goals.. and then act accordingly ...

ken

a saw in this price area

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Fiskars-7-Folding-Saw/16930221

process

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=rejuvenation+pruning&t=ffcm&iax=1&ia=videos