Plant Type

Tree, Shrub

 

Height Range

6-12', 12-25', 25-40'

 

Flower Color

White

 

Flower Season

Spring

 

Leaf Color

Dark Green

 

Bark Color

Brown, Red

 

Fruit Color

Red

 

Fruit Season

Fall

Sun

Half, Shade

 

Water

Medium, Extra in Summer

 

Growth Rate

Slow

 

Soil Type

Clay, Loam

 

Soil Condition

Average, Rich, Well-drained, Moist

 

Soil pH

Neutral

 

Adverse Factors

Poisonous

Design Styles

English Cottage, Formal, Japanese, Mediterranean

 

Accenting Features

n/a

 

Seasonal Interest

Winter

 

Location Uses

Background, Shrub Border, Foundation, Walls / Fences

 

Special Uses

Hedge, Screen, Topiary, Wind Break

 

Attracts Wildlife

Birds

English yew is a slow growing evergreen that will eventually reach 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide, though this will take a very long time. This is the yew so popular in English topiary gardens and as hedges. Here, with our hot dry summers, it probably will never attain that stature. Lustrous, flat-needled, dark green foliage is attractive year round. Young shoots emerge light green. Although classified as a conifer, female yews (plants are dioecious) do not produce cones, but instead produce red, attractive, berry-like fruits, each having a single seed almost completely surrounded by a fleshy red aril. Birds will feed on the berry-like fruits; fruits are toxic to humans.

Best grown in evenly moist, fertile, sandy-loam to clay-loam soils with excellent drainage in part to full shade. Tolerant of considerable pruning, though if pruned selectively, rather than sheared will preserve its natural form, reduce future pruning work, and allow you to enjoy the bright breen new foliage.