Thank you tsugajunkie.... are you saying I could cut it now.

i think 2 years to recover.. in z4 is very optimistic ... and if it were me... i would take one from the end .. and do what you will to it ... and then observe it for a year or two.. before you decide whether it is worth doing to the rest ..

in my experience.. in my relatively short z5 growing season.. it can take FOREVER for these types of CONIFERS ... trees... to recover ... these are not shrubs.. that take this kind of hard pruning and pop right back ..

anyway.. if you ruin just one end bush.. then you can dig it out.. if it doesnt please you ...

it would probably look better.. if it wasnt heavily sheared every year ... again ... trees do not respond to such the way shrubs would .. and that is part of the problem ...

if allowed to grow more as a tree it would probably look more like you wish it to ... but it will take up more of the lawn ...

its a whole other ball of wax in warmer zones.. or the PNW ... where this type of tree might grow near year round ... but one thing for sure.. z4 is neither of those ...

ken

ps: how about a pic or two of the whole unit ... rather than the couple bad spots ...

pps:.. if you cut it to one foot as you suggest.. it might take 10 to 15 years to return to its current height .. are you willing to look at that stubby mess for that long???

"it would probably look better.. if it wasnt heavily sheared every year ... again ... trees do not respond to such the way shrubs would .. and that is part of the problem ..."

If you have ever seen the yew hedges at Powis Castle, you would realize the fallacy of this statement!! Of just about any plant one could name, yews take frequent and heavy pruning or shearing better than anything else! Which is also why yews are prime topiary subjects as well.

I can't speak to how long it may take to regrow in your area - there are too many variables involved - but you can chop it down to the ground and it will regenerate fully. "10-15 years" is likely grossly overstated but it will take some time. And if you take it down hard, there will be no "stubby mess".

And feel free to ignore the insistence that all conifers are trees. The term 'conifer' just describes the way a plant reproduces - from cones rather than flowers. It does not specify a form or size. Conifers can be trees or shrubs or even low growing groundcovers.

Lyban- I would wait until next March or April as yews are done putting out new growth by the end of July. Sun hitting the once shaded parts is what triggers the new growth and there may not be enough time to do that this year. By waiting you’ll avoid an extra year of the ugliness. In mid to late July I would prune them back just enough to leave a thin green shell and then prune them back hard next year.

tj

Thank you all. I will have to ponder this great info gardengal and tsugajunkie. Not so sure about Kens answer but i definitely know more now than before so I will give it all some thought.

Thanks

Do it now, cut as low as you like. And maybe put on some organic mulch to encourage the growing back.

Or maybe put on some mulch now and skip the cutting down and starting over - if the motivation for cutting it down is how it looks now the most direct approach is to decide why it looks thin and employ whatever response will correct that problem. With it being true that if it is made to start over without taking away what caused it to look thin in the first place then presumably it will just start looking thin again later.