I live in Illinois, and I have two mature spruce-type trees (about 40 feet
tall) about 20 feet from the front of our house. The trees were planted too
close together and are now growing into each other. The space where the two
trees come close together has no branches or leaves.

I would like to take one of the trees down, but I am concerned that the
remaining tree will forever have this bare space along one side where the
other tree used to be.

If I remove one tree, will the remaining tree "fill in" and grow new branches
and leaves? If so, how many seasons should we expect this to take?

Thanks,
Scott