dont you have a bit or property??? .. is having the 3 feet at the foundation ... really important???

they are aggressive plants.. planted TOO CLOSE TO THE HOUSE .... requiring too much pruning ... and planted by the prior owner.. who did not understand their potential ....

and to top it all off.. they block access to the spigot ....

i dont care what they are.. get rid of them ...

then redesign the bed.. if you insist on having a bed there .... maybe some perennials .... the bed really isnt big enough for most shrubs.. unless you just do like shearing stuff ...

ken

ps: with no insult to the root mass ... you might be surprised how fast the sprouts can grow .... but then.. all the above ... i am just blanking on the ID... tough night last night.. lol ... we did have one heck of a winter here in MI ....

You are correct about those being too big for the bed. They are a pain in the ass. Just like the burning bushes I have in the front. Problem is I have already overspent on landscaping in the last year and don't have the money or time to start a new project. I would rather just have someone keep trimming them yearly.

That bed that those are in also has landscape fabric down and red mulch that doesn't match the rest of the landscape. If I could I would strip out the whole thing and plant something small. I told my wife I was just about done keeping my head in the trees. It's driving her crazy lol.

Since the only live growth is at the base of the plants, I would just cut them back to just above that level if removal/replacement is not an option. And at this stage, there is not enough growth to confirm exactly what they are....do they flower at all?

Find a young strapping neighborhood youth and pay him/her $10 an hour to remove them as best they can. Hand them a shovel and say ‘have at it.’ Get a couple of bags of topsoil to spread in the voids.

Easy and cheap.

Looks like golden privet. My next door neighbor has a bunch. His are looking sad too. A hard winter will do that.

I believe you are correct, it looks exactly like golden privet. So I assume any branches that don't leaf out this year are dead?

cut out all dead material .... back to live growth ...and thats it for this year ...

ken

Yes, if they don't have leaves by summer you can cut them off. My neighbor cut all his bushes to the ground 3 years ago and they have looked terrible ever since, dying back every winter. So if you keep them it may be a long time before they look good again.

its been established.. you have a healthy hate for them ... plan on removal ... anytime in the future ... no immediate need ...

besides ... if you do .. you can find something better for mom to work on ... lol ... though remembering those days ... maybe these have an inherent value... in that she really cant harm a plant you got a hate on for .... lol ...

back in the day ... dad used to show up with a trunk full of invasive plants .... i let him plant them where ever he wanted ... but lo and behold ... they either werent watered ... or they were round upped ... go figure on that ... lol .. but he was so happy ... donating to the cause ....

ken

Hand them a shovel and say ‘have at it.’

Making sure there are no utilities present first.

Otherwise apart from the fact that this particular shrub is apparently not winter hardy on your site the hedge-like pruning they were getting was not an enhancement - if there is something about them where you think that is a good thing to do then they are not suitable for the situation anyway.