Nil said:

I've got a hugely overgrown yew shrub/tree by my front steps. It's at
least 10 or 11 feet tall, and quite too big around. Can I prune it back
to 6 or seven feet and maybe take some off the diameter, without
killing it? Will any deformed areas caused by pruning eventually get
covered up by new growth?

Yew's don't take to hard pruning, dood. All their leaves are on the
outside, unlike a boxwood. I'm in the process of removing almost all of the
yews around my house for that reason. Lose a branch and it may be 20 years
before it's completely filled back in. When they become that size, in an
inappropriate area, and you either have to live with as they are, or remove
them.

--

Eggs

Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone.