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English yew, Taxus
baccata - Shrub / tree
CAUTION: toxic if eaten
Yew, along with box, is one of those plants that almost defines formal
gardening. The trees are stately and with a certain unflustered dignity,
when other plants are being blown all over the place or changing leaf colour,
the yews disport themselves with statesman like decorum.
They
have small needle-like, dark green leaves on horizontal branches and fleshy,
cup-shaped, bright-red autumn fruits on female plants. The dark green foliage
of this slow-growing, evergreen conifer provides an excellent background for
shrub and herbaceous borders. Broadly conical in shape, it's tolerant to dry
shade, chalky and acid soils and urban pollution.
There
are many named varieties of yew that make excellent architectural or specimen
plants in the garden, several types are available with golden yellow leaves
or patches of yellow against the green.
Yews can live to extremely
old ages,
The Oldest
tree in Britain is the Fortingall Yew in Scotland estimated at over 4,000 years
old while the oldest tree in Wales is the Llangerny Yew which is between 3,500
and 4,000 years old
Height and spread:
to 10m+ x 8m+
(30ft x 25ft) if left to their own devices over a period of decades, readily
kept in check by trimming, particularly as they are slow growing.
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Other
features: male cones in spring; female plants produce fleshy,
cup-shaped, bright red autumn fruits; all parts of the plant are
highly toxic if ingested. The ground under yews is notoriously unavailable
to grow other plants - like gardening at night, it depends on the
shape of the tree however. Good for making long-bows. Yews supplied
generations of English archers with this weapon in the middle ages.
Unfortunately Yew - at least English
Yew, was never used for making bows (also they were never called
'longbows', that's a Victorian name, rather 'Great Bow' or 'War
Bow'). English Yew is too full of knots, and they would break
very quickly. Ash, or Spanish Yew was preferred to make bows. Peter Keen - Member of the Medieval
Siege Society and Archer.
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Hardiness:
fully hardy
Uses - Specimen / Hedging
/ Architectural
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Planting distance when
used for hedging
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Clipped height |
Number of times to clip per season and when |
Responds to renovation? |
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60cm, 24"
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1.2-4m, 4-12ft
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2, spring and early autumn |
Yes |
| Pruning:
Spring preferably, or early autumn. Renovate in mid-spring. Cut back to
15cm, 6" further than ultimate desired width or height, for large plants
carry this out in stages, one side one year, then the other side the next. |
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Buy Taxus / yew
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Q. I have a
yew tree/hedge, it has grown into a tree of about 20ft
high, the base has formed a beautifully thick hedge. This is however taking
over the drive even though I trim it twice a year. I am frightened to cut deep
back into the brown wood to clear it off of the drive and to encourage the hedge
again, I would have to cut back about 18inches to 2 ft to do this. Can I
do it and expect the hedge to regrow? If so how long will it take to regrow?
A. Yew is one of the
few conifers that will respond well to hard cutting back by growing again from
brown wood. How long to regrow? By next summer I'd expect the brown to be softened
by a covering of green shoots again, if not a complete cover.
Q.
I have an established hedge of English yew... on a few there is some dieback.
It seems to affect the entire branch from the ground. my nursery said if I cut
back the damaged/dead wood it would in time fill in, it has been three years
and they still do not show any new growth anywhere near the hole I created.
Should I have cut back the stem all the way to the ground? As it was I cut back
only the branches coming from the main stem that were affected but now I seem
to be slowly loosing other branches off that same stem. Any insight would be
appreciated.
A. Yews usually respond well if slowly (being
slow growing) to such cutting back into brown wood as long as the plant is healthy.
It sounds sadly that yours is not and that whatever it was that caused the branches
to die in the first place is still there causing damage. Yews are susceptible
to foot-rot caused by fungus and are particularly vulnerable after wet winters,
they don't like their roots sitting in the wet when it's cold.
You could continue to cut the dead branches off, but it sounds like your
Yew has a slow and probably terminal illness. If I were you I'd probably try
drenching the soil around the affected plants with a proprietary fungicide,
but it doesn't sound too hopeful I'm afraid.
Q. I have a young Taxus baccata to
plant as a specimen in inhospitable soil: gravel, rubble and clay. I shall
excavate a hole for planting, and shall fill it with loam, bonemeal, manure,
maintaining good drainage. Suppose the hole is diameter 1.5 metres, how
deep should it be? Top dressing once planted is no problem.
A. That's a very generous planting hole! If
the soil really is so awful, you don't want to artificially make it too easy
for your tree as it will be a little too shocked later on.
I'd make the planting hole no more than 1m across and 30-50cm deep. Don't
have any more than 50% of the material in this hole as introduced goodies.
Mix it well with the native soil and top dress. I'd leave off the bonemeal
for a few years too as you can over-feed young trees easily. Clay soil tends
to be high in nutrients anyhow. The difficulty sounds like soil texture and
humous content. A mature Taxus will have long strong roots, you need to
harden it up for a tough soil, don't lull it into a false sense of security.
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