One of my front yard yew bushes died after someone left the water faucet on and it dripped for who knows how long until I went to turn on the faucet and saw the ground around the yew was damp. The hose has a sprayer attachment on it so it wasn't obvious that the water was not turned off. Unfortunately, the yew didn't make it and I need to replace it.
I have a healthy Taxus media 'Densiformis' (yew) that was planted too close to a ComEd utility box in Nov. 2018. It doesn't provide any esthetic value since it doesn't face the street nor does it camouflage the back of the box since an adjacent magnolia has grown very large.
Question: Should I replace the dead yew with the healthy yew bush by the utility box? My concern is that I don't want to risk losing the healthy yew if it doesn't transplant well. The landscaper didn't read the ComEd label on the box which says plants must be at least 3' from the sides and 10' from the front of the box. He planted three yews and they are all too close to the box and I have to trim them so they don't touch it. So far ComEd has not needed to do any maintenance on the box which would require them to possibly remove the bushes. I mention this because strategy wise, it may be better to transplant the healthy bush instead of buying a new one if ComEd ever makes me move the bushes.
The dead yew was planted about 20 years ago. I'm attaching three photos, one of the dead yew, one of the healthy yew and one of the utility box with three yews around it. The yew I'm thinking about transplanting is behind the box. Thanks in advance for your advice!
