Back Hicks Yew (Undulating) Hedge Update - January 2026

This Summer will mark seven (7) years since I planted and installed twelve (12) small Hicks Yews in the far back reach of our yard in a straight row spanning the width of our grass/yard.  Here's the post showing them in the ground for the first time when the needles were barely above the mulch.  That was mid-Summer 2019.   Seven years and this will be the eight growing season.

Back then, I had a swoop-ing, undulating, but formally pruned hedge in mind.  That closely-clipped hedge was a product of YEARS of growth.  

I watered them in the first year, but have mostly left them alone.  *Knock on Wood*.  I haven't lost one.  Yet. 

Here they are in August of 2020 - one year after planting. Here the hedge is in November 2021 - four years ago. Here are some photos from December of 2022 showing the growth. And..the Hicks Yews snuck into this post from Summer 2023 where I was talking about some ferns.

Here's a post showing the growth in November of 2024.

Up until today, I haven't pruned them.  At all.  
 

They've grown upright - that's by design.  And, they're starting to turn into something.  Here, below, is a photo showing a portion of the Yews as they stand, now, seven years later:

Some of them are more than three-feet-tall.  Others, shorter.  They're filling out, but not creating a solid wall of evergreen.  Yet. 

I mentioned that I haven't pruned them yet, but I'm thinking that I'll give every one of them a haircut late this Winter.  Trying to attempt to get a little bit of side-growth out of them.  In addition to the top-growth.  And, to give them just a little bit of shape.

The feet of these is a candidate for lazy bed extensions.  I'd like to extend these out and plant a row in front of them.  Seslaria?  Carex?  Polka Dot plant as an annual?  Something that works in shade, for sure.  And, something that is BRIGHT to draw your eye back there.