I have a large cedar hedge at the top of a west facing bank against a cement wall. Many of the cedars are dying, some are falling over and some are growing well higher up but look terrible lower down. There is a large cedar tree that provides shade and many of the shaded cedar hedges are doing poorly whereas the other less shaded hedges are doing better with consistent growth up and down the tree. I have recently had the cedar tree lifted and many of the lower branches have been removed. My neighbour also has cedar hedge's and hers are also falling apart. Do cedars have a certain life span? They look terrible. Will the lower branches recover and fill out with more light? I am thinking of replacing them all with Yew hedges-- do you have a suggested cultivar? Yew are quite expensive so I don't want the same problems... Do you have suggestions for keeping yew healthy? If I decide to stay with cedar and put in new plants can you suggest a way to keep them healthy? Could it be soil quality? Will they never do well as long as I have the large cedar providing shade on some of them? They have been well watered. I also recently pulled out tonnes of ivy that I thought might be choking them. Thanks so much.
