Good morning! We planted these yews in April. We bought them from a local grower. They were bare root. We planted them 2' apart. The yard is south facing, but gets some shade from a neighbour's massive tree. I added bonemeal to the soil and mulched them lightly--but kept the mulch away from the trunk. Over the 7 years living here, I had added topsoil and mulch to the area (I had changed my mind a few times and moved plants). We have some clay in the soil, although this part of the yard is not heavy clay. We rented a Honda rototiller and did the entire area before we planted. They were well watered upon planting and throughout the summer, but I was concerned about keeping letting the roots get soggy so I tried not to overwater. The best I can say about them now is that they're alive. However they are rather sickly looking. Can anyone offer any insight? We need the privacy and I was looking forward to a dense, green hedge. I'm by no means a highly experienced gardener, (obviously!) and grateful for any wisdom.
I'll be interested in what others have to say. I think you're expecting a lot from new trees you just planted in April, would expect dense green hedges to develop over some years. They look pretty good to me, with new growth and all.
Thank you, wcutler. I should have added "...in time" after "dense green hedge". My concern is that they're not taking off the way I had assumed they would. Here's a photo of what they looked like when we planted them on April 22.
Same here. Can't see that at all, but may be you can see better and more with the naked eye, than we can on the pictures. They keep their narrow at the bottom habit of growth already promised when they were younger, if it is what bothers you, but I am afraid you can't change that. With time they will fill up a little more, though.
Thank you, Sundrop! I really appreciate your response. What prompted my post was the look of the lower branches--they don't seem as full as when we'd planted them, and since this was a big job for us, (we planted all 15 the day they were delivered and my 40+ back really showed itself that day!) I wanted to make sure that if they weren't growing well, I corrected the problem now. I will prune them a bit this spring, although I understand what you're saying about their shape. Maybe with some encouragement, I'll have a real hedge after all. Thanks again for your time and experience, wcutler and Sundrop!
