how and when to prune yews
a you can prune healthy yews taxus spp back quite severely with no problem you can easily reduce their size by one half to three quarters such severe pruning is best done in early spring so they have spring and summer to recover they will respond by throwing up a lot of new growth
prune off branches that cross through the shrub or grow at sharp angles compared to the rest of the branches thin the yew shrub out by selectively removing thicker branches you want sunlight to reach the middle of the plant