Hicks Yews for Metal Frame Topiary Shape - Growth Update - November 2024

In 2021, I planted two 1# small Hicks (upright) yews in the backyard - sort of near the understory garden on the north side.  I planted them somewhat close together with eyes on (eventually) shaping them up into a 'Block I' Illinois topiary.  Earlier that year, I posted about this University of Auburn topiary frame and dreamed of a 'Block I'. 

The two Hicks yews were probably 12" tall in Fall of 2021.  They've now had three (2022, 2023 and 2024) growing seasons and have put on some size.  

Here are the two Hicks Yews - below - after those three growing seasons.  They've grown up (a little bit) are are still mostly columnar.

It isn't easy to determine their height, so here below, is a shovel stuck in the ground to provide a height comparison.  

I CLEARLY still have time to create the 'Block I' frame out of Chicken Wire, so I'm not concerned about that.  I am, however, concerned about the 'fullness' of these.  Are they going to get 'wide enough' to fill out a frame?

I lost my Mickey Mouse topiary last year, so perhaps it is time to revisit that with a new Creeping Fig vine.  And...what about that King Charles Cavalier topiary frame that I've dreamed about?  

This is part of the Yew update series of posts that are documenting the various shrubs in our yard.  I've posted about the Brown's Yew, the hedge of small Hicks Yews (for an undulating hedge) in the far backyard and most recently the Hicks Yews that I planted *behind* the Oakleaf Hydrangeas in the 'kitchen curved bed'.