Yews ( Taxus ) Tree and bush types , planting and tending
Splendid Evergreens for Many Landscape Uses
Taxus ( Tax’us ) are beautiful evergreen plant tree and bush that are natives of North America , Europe and Asia . They belong to to the Yew house , Taxaceae . The name is an sure-enough Latin one for Taxus baccata , the European Yew .
The leave are minor and , in most instance , are grim dark-green on wild trees , but they are variable in color on cultivated forms . manful and female flower are usually produce on different trees in early springiness . The manlike flowers are yellow and produced in minuscule catkins ; the female flower are greenish , very small , and hard to find . The fruit is a pocket-sized , punishing , dark green or chocolate-brown seed fence , except at the apex , by a heavy envelope that is scarlet and spicy when ripe .
shoot , leaves and come curb venomous property , and have proved fatal to both human organism and kine . This is specially true of the English Yew . The material body surrounding the seeds , however , is not toxic , and it is interesting to note that cervid eat the foliage of Taxus cuspidata with relish and without apparent injury .
It is generally understood that shoots and leaves are in their most unsafe state when partly withered .
Valuable for Landscaping . Yews are among the finest evergreen plant for landscaping use . In gain to the wild kinds , there are legion garden variety and loan-blend which show large variation in height , wont of growth and other important characteristic and this make it possible for the planter to select from among them those that suit his intent best .
Yews , allow to grow without clip or shearing , explicate into brilliant specimen plant , but they stand prune well and are among the fine of all evergreens for planting as courtly hedges and for topiary oeuvre . ( See Topiary Work . ) The prostrate and spreading kinds are effective ground covers .
Yews may be transpose without undue difficulty even when quite large . Should they outgrow their deal space , they may be cut back back gravely and will “ break ” ( put forth raw shoots ) even from thick sometime offset that have been cut back . In this respect they differ from many other evergreens .
Yews expand in Most Soils . Very fine onetime tree diagram are often see growing naturally on limestone soils , but they also grow on sandy loam , gruelling loam and on peat . They do not deliver the goods where the undersoil is waterlogged , and even old trees may be killed by the sudden raising of the natural water level , as is brought about by implosion therapy or by the silting up of ditch or unfastened drains , obstructions in drainpipes or by rank procedure .
Mulching the soil surface with old , rotted manure , rich compost , leaf mold or other suitable constitutive material is of great benefit . An program of a complete fertilizer each spring is beneficial .
When toPlant Yew Trees . When the trees are move with a multitude of soil attached to the roots , transplanting may be carried out in former fall or early spring or , in meek climates , in wintertime ; however , when there is considerable solution disturbance , September and April are the best months for the work . Whether specimen or hedge plant are institute , the soil should be get up beforehand and , if there is any danger of waterlogging , arrangements must be made for run out the ground . If , when the trees are received , the root seem to be juiceless , soak them with water before planting , and give them a right watering as soon as the body of work is completed . If the weather is red-hot and dry the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree should be shaded from hot sun for a week or two , and spray twice a mean solar day with water . The remotion of the ends of some of the offshoot will serve in re - found the trees by lessening the nervous strain on the roots .
Should the leaf fall , there need be no lawsuit for alarm ; it is one of Nature ’s means of assisting recovery . If , however , the foliage shrivel or turn chocolate-brown and remain on the branch , root action is not go on in a satisfactory way . In such a case , disregard the branches back , spray the trees several metre a day , and shade from Sunday until new shoot seem . Severe pruning , when necessitate by old trees , should be done in March or April .
Pruning . Yews required for tree diagram must be cautiously prune from former life ; it is important that the growth of the scurvy branches should not interpose with the leading shoots . Those Yews which have a disposition to produce several shoot from the base are the best to take for hedge or for topiary work . Pruning may be done at any time from natural spring to fall .
Hedges and clipped specimens should be fleece in bound , just before new growth start , and again about summer solstice if necessary .
Raising Yew Trees from Seeds . Yew trees can be upgrade by seed seeds as soon as ripe in a frame , or out of doors in springtime . come to be sown out of doors may be keep in George Sand from the clip of collection to sowing . When quantities of Yew seeds are required , they should be collect as soon as the flesh of the yield begins to sprain carmine , for the ripe yield are eagerly eaten by birds . The cum can be unblock from the frame by wash .
Taking Cuttings . Cuttings of all kinds of Yew can also be root by placing them in a bed of sand , or backbone and peat moss , in a cold frame in July or August and leave behind them there all wintertime , or by inserting them in a greenhouse propagating judiciary in October or November .
This is one of the method acting take over for increasing variety which can not be reared reliable from cum . Grafting is also practice on stocks of vulgar types antecedently give in pots . This work must be carried out in a warm nursery in leaping . Yew can also be increase by layering and air layering .
The Japanese Yew . In most parts of North America the Japanese Yew , Taxus cuspidata , and its varieties and crossbreed are the most valuable variety .
When Taxus cuspidata is rear from seed it develop into proportionate , broad - conic , upright - grow specimen , each with a well - determine central trunk or leader . Such plants are broadly offered for sale by nurseries under the name T. cuspidata capitata . If plants are propagated by means of press cutting aim from side branches of these capitate specimens , they do not prepare into improbable , conical plants with well - define primal leader , but , rather , form broad - spreading specimens without any definite central luggage compartment or leader . Such plants are betray by nurseries as genus Taxus cuspidata . Botanically , both eccentric are Taxus cuspidata ; they are precisely the same specie ; the difference of opinion in appearance is due only to the method of propagation utilise .
The Japanese Yew is hardy than the English Yew and get more apace . It withstands the winter of New England and under the most favorable conditions will acquire into a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree 50 ft . marvellous but in polish is ordinarily considerably smaller than this . It is a aboriginal of Japan , Korea and Manchuria .
Among the well - defined diverseness of the Japanese Yew are T. cuspidata aurea , with leaves slightly vary with yellow ( this diverseness is likely to come along chocolate-brown and untempting in wintertime ) ; T. cuspidata aurescens , a low - growing variety in which the new leave are bright white-livered ( this diversity is more tender than most ; it requires a sheltered location ) ; T. cuspidata densa , a very succinct , tardily - farm salmagundi with deep green foliage ; and T. cuspidata fastigiata , a dwarf , erect columnar kind .
T. cuspidata nana , a colored green , dull , shaggy-coated form of moderately fast outgrowth , is one of the best evergreens for low hedges , fundament plantings and similar uses . This is the works frequently offered in nurseries as T. cuspidata brevifolia and T. brevifolia ; it should not be confused with the T. brevifolia of botanists , which is a indigen of the Pacific Northwest and is much more tender .
Other well - fix motley let in T. cuspidata nigra , with very dark green foliage ; T. cuspidata ovata , a sort with leaves that are broader than normal ; T. cuspidata pyramidalis , a salmagundi of trenchant pyramidal increment habit ; T. cuspidata Thayerae , a wide - spreading variety with more or less horizontal branches with leaf of a type that gives them a somewhat feathery coming into court .
The Media Hybrids . Between the Japanese Yew , T. cuspidata , and the English Yew , T. baccata , a series of very valuable hybrids have been raised . These are classed together under the group name of Taxus media . They are somewhat less sturdy than the Japanese Yew but they may be depend upon as far north as Massachusetts and perhaps further north . They include a most interesting selection of plant form and drug abuse .
Among the best of these hybrid are T. media Andersonii , an vertical , freely branching variety ; T. media Brownii , erect and cone-shaped and growing to an ultimate height of about 8 ft . ; T. media Hatfieldii , a shrubby , conical diversity with overspread branch ; T. media Hicksii , a dark green , shaggy-haired kind with many very vertical leg ; T. media Kelseyi , a dense , erect plant that is said to fruit heavily ; T. medium pyramidalis , erect and of loose - branching habit ; T. media Wardii , an erect , compact variety ; T. media Wellesleyi , a across-the-board , erect - growing variety .
The English Yew . This magnificent evergreen plant , Taxus baccata , is generally less reliable and less useful in most parts of the United States than it is in Europe . It is well accommodate for growing in the Pacific Northwest . In the East it is hardy as far north as southern New York and parts of New England , but it is generally not so satisfactory for those areas as the Japanese Yew and the media hybrids between the Japanese Yew and the English Yew . Some varieties of the English Yew , notably the crushed T. baccata repandens , are much hardy than the distinctive form of T. baccata . The English Yew grows more slowly than the Japanese Yew and the intercrossed variety .
Taxus baccata is a densely branched Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree when growing in the open ; when produce intimately together , the trees may become branchless for a considerable height , and then have a head of temperate size . Under favorable weather the English Yew grows 30 - 60 feet high with a trunk 9 - 20 foot . in girth . Very large and old tree diagram are often found in God’s acre in Great Britain ; the Yew has been associated with churches and churchyards for hundreds of years . The spirally coiffe , narrow leaves are dark greenish , 1/2 - 1 1/4 in . long , and each of the solitary hard seeds is enclosed in a cherry-red sarcoid aril or cup .
There are many well - score variety which differ from the type in substance abuse , size and colour of leaves , and in one instance in the color of the aril of the yield .
tree 1,000 Years Old . It is suggested that some of the sure-enough trees of Taxus baccata in the British Isles exceed the age of 1,000 years , and this may well be correct . Some of these trees are mere shell brook living branches , and have probably remain in much the same Department of State for many generations .
The English Yew has the specialty of raise young erect stem from near its base ; grow close to the trunk , they sometimes become enclosed by wood of the old tree . In these cases a cross section cut from a trunk may show several enclose stems . It is possible that some old trees may even have been rejuvenated by one of these lower-ranking radical , and that the original tree trunk has disappear .
miscellanea of English Yew . There are legion varieties of the English Yew . One of the most useful and hardiest is T. baccata repandens , which is of neatly flat substance abuse with arching , loose branches and bluish - green leaves .
T. baccata Dovastonii is a very trenchant and handsome variety with horizontal subdivision and pendant sprig ; the leave-taking are dismal green and big than those of the character . It is sometimes called the Westfelton Yew .
T. baccata lutea ( fructu - luteo ) is exactly like the common English Yew and raise as large , but the heavy cover of the seed is golden or else of the familiar red . T. baccata gracilis pendula is a very elegant Yew with weeping side twig .
The motley epacrioides and ericoides are of low , compact substance abuse , with small leave , and are suitable forplanting in the rock garden . T. baccata expansa is a widely - spreading kind of low stature suitable for continue banks . T. baccata Foxii is another dwarf variety suited for the rock garden .
Golden - leaved Yews . A very attractive variety of T. baccata is call adpressa . It is of compact , shaggy-coated habit , grow 10 - 12 ft . high , with short , dark green leave , 1/4 - 1/2 in . long . There are several subvarieties of it , include adpressa aurea , a very handsome shrub with golden leaves ; and argentea , with white and green leaves , a less attractive bush than aurea .
Other diverseness of the English Yew with prosperous leaves are T. baccata aurea , Barronii , Dovastonii aureo - variegata , elegantissima and semperaurea . T. baccata Barronii is of specially good color , and Dovastonii aureo - variegata and elegantissima cursorily get into large bushes .
The Irish Yew . T. baccata stricta ( fastigiata ) , is well hump by reason of its stiff and erect use . It is useful for planting as formal avenues and is much used in churchyards in Great Britain . There are several varieties with colored leaf — for example , fastigiata aurea , the Golden Irish Yew ; fastigiata grandis and Standishii , also with golden leave , and argentea , a less utile variant with silver medal - vary leaves . The Irish Yew is sometimes address the Florence Court Yew , because the two original specimens were find near Florence Court in Ireland .
The Ground Hemlock or Canadian Yew . T. canadensis , is a native of eastern North America as far north as Newfoundland . It attains a maximum height of about 6 foot . but is ordinarily broken and forms a more or less straggling or well-nigh flat shrub . Its foliage does not possess the rich , dark dark-green colouring of other Yews but incline to be yellow ; for these reasons it is less useful as a garden works . Nevertheless the Ground Hemlock can be used to good core as a reason cover under trees and in woodlands where sheltered conditions can be provided . It is not worthy for embed in expose nothingness - sweep localisation . It is an especially good plant life for setting beneath evergreen plant .
Other Yews . The Western Yew is aboriginal from Montana to California and British Columbia . This is the true Taxus brevifolia and must be clearly distinguished from the plant commonly sold in nursery as T.brevifolia , which is really T. cuspidata nana . In its native home the Western Yew makes a tree 45 foot . or more magniloquent but it is not a common plant in cultivation . The Chinese Yew is Taxus chinensis , a kind which , as its name suggests , is a native of China . It is hardy in the North but is not common . In its native home it forms a tree about 50 foot . tall .
