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July 10, 2007

Comments

This is phenomenal. I wouldn't have believed it without the pics. Can you go into detail more about "pruning from the top?" How did you get rid of the top straight edge?
lucia

kate

What a huge difference there is between the before and after pictures. You've done wonderful work of revitalising the front ... it is really welcoming rather than forbidding as it used to be.

Mo

Looks great! Just goes to show what some hard work and a bit of persistence can do.

Good job!!

Chan S.

Kate and Mo, thank you!

Lucia, I found that most of the new growth during the growing season occurs at the top of the shrub (since it gets the most light). If left unpruned, the "crew cut" turns into somewhat of an inverted pyramid. What I've been doing each year is to cut back more of the growth at the top than at the bottom, so that the bottom stays wider than the top and greens and thickens up as more light gets through. Each spring the top "catches up", and I cut it back again. The trimming is done by hand, stem by stem, but it's a pleasurable, almost contemplative activity.

Sarah

What an improvement! And a fine testament to your careful work with them. I've been thinking about yews lately while doing some woodworking - it turns out they have the most beautiful orange wood. The discovery of their inner color, coupled with your post, is boosting them considerably in my estimation.

Blower Vacs

You have worked hard there. Looks really good.

send flower philippines

Keep up the good work!I am planning to put some yews in my back yard.It looks cool.

-Ashley

mim

what did you do to that pyramid hedge is that a yew you made into a tree?!

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