They should. Yews can be cut back to bare stumps and still come back although it takes a while and they look pretty awful.

I see a lot or rough looking stem ends.......what the heck did he 'prune' it with? A chain saw?

maybe in 5 years ..

i think they do it faster in gals z8 .. as compared to your z5 ...

what did he use.. a freakin woodchuck on a harness.. crikey i havent see cuts that bad.. since i ran one over with the lawnmower ...

if this is out in front of the house... he should be embarrassed ...

they are conifers.. which are trees... they have a much longer time scale than we have.. and as compared to annuals and perennials ... it will take a very long time to look good ...

its not really about whether it can be done.. its how long you are going to look at the result .... before it recovers ... as i said.. if this were out in the back 5 acres.. i would enjoy watching the process ... if this is out the front door ... its time for something new ...

and for a shiny nickle.. i will tell you how i really feel ...

oh well.. he can dig them out in fall.. in the next planting season ...

ken

ps: please dont tell us he is a landscaper by profession ... lol

I just cut down 55 year old yews and had the tree surgeon dig out the stumps this spring.My cuts were clean but I used an alligator mini chainsaw. Very uncharacteristic for me to kill things but they were huge and very, very unsightly. Also full of spider webs all the time. They were growing right up to the house, I'd had to take the alligator to the back limbs a few times to have some house clearance. RIP old yews. Sorry.

Now to the one you wrote about: Yes yews are one of the few conifers that get new growth even after butchering but I find it hard to picture how these would grow out enough to cover the carnage. Maybe.

When I moved into my house years ago there was a big hole in one of mine but it took 4 years or so to grow over. The ones you show are much more delicate than the monsters I had removed. I thought the poor arborist was going to die. Probably need a few guys or, if accessible, something to tow it out with chains. Mine were inaccessible by power equipment/bobcats, etc.

Feed them and water them and they should grow back in a year or two.

At least that is how long it takes around here.

'they are conifers.. which are trees'

Huh?

If that's the case, I'd better remove my Icee Blue⢠juniper now!

Yes he used a chainsaw Ken, and yes he is going to go ahead and pull them out...Thanks mad galica for the optimistic statement...