On 24 Apr 2007, Eggs Zachtly wrote in
alt.home.lawn.garden:

A LOT will depend on the variety of Yew. If it's an upright Yew,
it's going to want to be 10'-12' tall and 10'-15' in diameter.
There's no way around that, as that's how big that plant grows.

This sounds like my tree. I keep it shaped, but it doesn't seem to be
trying to get much taller.

It definately sounds like yet another case of an inappropriate
plant for it's location, an all too common mistake. Best thing
would be to remove the overgrown shrub, and find a plant that
won't exceed the dimensions specified by the location.

The plant came with the house when I bought it 18 years ago. It was big
then and I guess I let it take its course through neglect. There's
actually another one on the other side of the walkway, but it's not as
much in the way as much as the other one, but it could still stand to
be replaced.

I think I'm going to just lop off the too for now. It will probably
look ugly, but that will solve the functional problem (blocking the
light on my front steps) for now, until I find a suitable replacement.
Much as I like the idea of a guitar topiary, I don't think I could
decide between a Gibson and an Epiphone.

I wonder if, when the time comes, if the root system is shallow enough
for me to dig it out myself? Do you have any feel for that?