they are conifers ..

they are trees...

but technically.. they are not shrubs ...

but alas.. all those peeps hang around there.. so no use posting elsewhere ...

anyway .... i take it your house on the left ...... and you are overhanging the property line???

yes.. they will fill in.. and in two years.. be right back where they are now ..

take a long branch.. pull it up a bit.. and trace back into the plant.. and cut them off 2 or three feet back into the plant ... leaving some green shoots showing ....

the remaining green shoots .... will take on 'dominance' .... and with no insult to the root mass.... will probably grow a foot or more this year ... hence the reason for going deeper back ...

so just do it.. see what happens.. and by fall.. decide if they are improperly planted .. too close to the neighbors property.. removal might be the best course.. for the long run ...

and if you are simply doing some handyman work ... and its not your property ... leave them your card.. they will be calling you back.. lol ....

but if you are the landlord.. think about eventual removal .... they have way to much potential.. for how and where they are planted ....

ken

Thanks Ken. It's not my property, I'm just doing this as a side job. The junipers are on the same property as the driveway and the house to the left of the driveway. I'll go ahead and give them a severe cutting back and we'll see how many years that keeps them at bay.

They sure appear to be shrubs to me. In any event, the ugliness will disappear in just a few months when new growth occurs. As Ken said, prune the branches back individually rather than shearing them off. If you spend just a little extra time and do it right, the immediate result will be MUCH better and even the long-term result will probably be somewhat better.

IME, shearing back these types of junipers - and they are extremely common in older established neighborhoods around here - never has very satisfactory results.They almost never will regain a green appearance on the sheared surface and will present a dead wood looking face.

I do agree that if one takes care to cut back individual branches to a proper joint or growth point you can reduce the spread in a rather natural looking manner. It just takes some time and attention :-)

Ken, you need to broaden your thought process :-) While many conifers ARE trees, just as many are shrubs and/or groundcovers. Just being classified as a conifer does not make a plant a tree - it is all dependant on growth habit!!