LOL. Those plant sellers!

Thank you for the assurance. Wonder if using fertilizers would help fill in the gaps and make it fluffier. Or the branches are already set and won't grow new ones in the lower areas. I just can't find any information online on these specifics.

They are common hedge plants. Once it is established in the pot and putting off new growth, pinch off the tips and it will start to fill in.

Thanks for pointing me to the right direction. I was able to look up pinching off the tips. For those gardening novice like me who are interested in learning more:

"Pinch as close to leaf nodes as possible, being careful not to injure the tiny buds beneath. Each time you remove a main stem, your plant will try to grow two new stems beneath the pinch or cut. This easy technique encourages fullness and also helps keep plant size in check. It forces most plants to grow bushier and fuller rather than concentrating their energy on getting taller."

Source: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=26939

I will try to report back with before and after photos. Hope I can do this correctly!

I also pinched when mine were young.

Yep,typical look of young cutting grown plants. Mine looked like that 38 years ago. Now,fat trunked dense trees.

Oh,they are iron lovers. You could dose them with it.

UPDATE: I have found some more Podocarpus Gracilior at Home Depot today and they are LEAFY and LUSH! So I've answered my own question. Here is the photo of the plants I just bought, same height as the ones I already own from Lowe's:

Those new trees are just older than the ones that you've already planted. The smaller trees will fill out pretty quickly.

Did your podocarpus grow taller and fill out within a year of having them? If so, how much? Just curious as I have planted a whole bunch of them for a privacy screen.

I randomly found my own post on Google search and thought I'd give a "2 Years Later" update. Here is a photo (same dog for scale)

Each of them hasn't turned out the same height or shape.

The right most tree recently had leaves turning brown and falling off, so I treated it with a Calcium, Magnesium, And Iron Plant Supplement. New leaves are growing out and hope it fills.

Grown from cuttings they tend to be clones of parts of the tree that differ..extra weepy or not weepy at all and all else.

To give you idea of what that causes,I have firesticks I took cuttings from and just stuck them in ground and- yep,one is like a pole tall and very fast growing,and the other is a short bushy 'sticks. Both from the same plant.