Pruning Hicks Yew?

I have several hicks yews that I planted last spring. These plants were in 2-3 gallon containers and were about 2 1/2 feet tall. They have already grown about a foot and a couple branches are sticking out above the rest. All branches look to have about 6 inches of new growth on them right now. Is it OK to prune the longer branches back right now to shape them up?

Also, my goal is to eventually have the trunks exposed on these shrubs so that only the top half of the shrub has leaves. There are some very old Hicks Yews in a local cemetary like this and they are very cool. Nice narly purpley colored bark. Has an nice oriental feel to it. Can I go ahead and do this to them now or are they still too young?

Lastly, if the answer to the above question is yes: The shrubs are multi stemmed. Every one has a lest five or six main stems coming pretty much from the base (crown?) of the plant. Each one of these stems has leaves all the way down it. Do I just kinda squeeze and run my had down the bottom half of each stem to remove the leaves?

As usually any help would be appreciated. I am completely clueless but want to learn :-)

Hicks Yews are very forgiving when pruning after the height and or width you want is achieved. Each year I trimmed off the new light green growth, back to the darker green old growth and never had a problem. As for exposing the trunks, I suggest you go to the cemetary and ask to speak to the head gardener about their procedure for this. Hope this helps. Bud1

You dont say if you intend to grow a hedge of these yews or just have them scattered in your garden, if it is a hedge, then you need to let the top leading shoots grow to about 6/8 inches taller than the final height of your hedge, but you can prune the side shoots into shape now, this will help make them thicken out and look more attractive in a few years time. However if they are not a hedge, then you can prune and shape the top and sides any time from now on, good luck. WeeNel.

Thanks for the responses. Each of these hicks yews has maybe 15 or so shoots coming up from the base. All the shoots are tall and skinny and dont really have any substantial branches. The centers of these seems somewhat bare. If I cut several of the taller shoots back about half way to the base will multiple new shoots come off of them below the cut and therefore thicken up the center of the plant?

WeeNel, Here is a picture but its not really from the best angle. In the picture you can see the yews between the black fence and the stone wall (this is near a pool which is why the fence is there) You can kind of see from the picture that the yews are somewhat thin. See how you can see the wall throught them? Anyway I would like for them to grow up to about 6 feet and have the tops of them grown together to make one long hedge along the top of the fence. BUT, I want to cut away the folage under that so that the trunks are exposed and the wall can be seen down low, does that make sense?

Here is a better picture. See how thinned out they are? So should I cut some of the tall shoots way back and get the middle to fill in? Or just let them go for a couple years?