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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 color, 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.
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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Position:
full sun or partial shade |
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Soil:
any fertile, well-drained soil |
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Rate
of growth: 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. |
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Hardiness:
fully hardy |
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Garden
care: Trim or renovate in summer or early autumn.
Rather unusually for conifers, yews respond to renovatory
pruning. |
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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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