Nurse back to health or rip out

Christy062009

DH and I just bought a house with two large flower beds in front.  Were in ND and this weekend we decided to start prepping the flower beds.  I have a lot of learning to do! This will be my first year gardening.

Anyway, we have four of these large plants. They seem half dead.  They are approx. 20 years old.  We aren't sure if we should rip them out and start over or if we can nurse them back to health.  I love that they cover so much area. 

Do we trim them to the roots? Completely up root them? Just trim the brown/sticks from the plant?

Thanks for your help!

Go_Dawgs

I am not an avid gardener, so take my advice with a grain of salt.   I know that if this were my house, I'd want to just rip it out.  I have no idea what it is, but even if you can nurse it back to health, the spacing is weird and unattractive, and I think it would be easier and look nicer to just start over.

~NB~

I wish I could see more.

The first think I notice is that these are obviously home-made planters because there is no capstone course on the top of the wall. Technically, they are unfinished.

I also don't get the spacing and especially, the SPECIES. Are those two trees in the back? What are they, Leyland Cypress? And juniper does not belong in that soil.

It's really hard to tell what's going on here.

Christy062009

Yeah I'm sure these were homemade.  There seems to be some issues with the roots of the trees out growing the planters so we may try to work with it for a few years before we have the finances to gut the whole thing and start over.  I'm going to create a new post about the curb appeal and I'll be sure to post more photos to give you a better feel for the landscaping. Thanks!

KLF01

Is it prickly and evergreen looking plant that creeps? I think it is juniper and it is tough to get out! We just ripped ours out last summer - it was also very old. We paid a landscaper to do it and it was worth every penny. Good luck!