Container grown Yew Hedging
Yew hedge plants - Taxus baccata often called English Yew simply grow into the best formal evergreen hedge there is. English Yew is a medium to large sized truly native evergreen tree with leaves that are a very dark green. This is what makes a yew hedge such an effective backdrop - for those of you who know the RHS gardens at Wisley two huge english yew hedges set off the magnificent main herbaceous borders there. The leaf colour and size and ultimately its slow growth - once the growing tip is removed also combine to make Taxus baccata an ideal plant for topiary as well as for formal hedging, since it clips beautifully. The flowers are cream to yellow and are followed by red berries.
This is as close to a perfect hedging plant as you can get. English yew hedging is so understated and unfussy that it is equally at home as a maze at Hampton Count or enclosing a little kitchen garden.
Taxus bacata is enormously hardy - obviously, since it survived the last Ice Age and hugely long lived. The oldest yew in Europe, which is in Scotland, is thought to be about 4,000 years old. In ancient times yew, with its association with the spirit world, was the most revered of all trees. The Druids, for example, planted English Yew in groves wherever they worshipped and yew trees were often used as markers or to ward of evil spirits. The yews found in churchyards are probably one of their legacies. Like hawthorn, yew hedges were also used to protect dwellings against the supernatural.
Yew wood is extremely toughcorrectly shaped yew branches were carved to make the English longbow - hence the name English Yew. The pull on a well built English yew bow was about 90kgs - a bit like lifting three sacks of cement one handed. All parts of the yew including its seeds are poisonous.
An English Yew hedge will grow in practically any situation, from bright sun to full shade. Until you cut the growing point of the yew off, taxus baccata yew is a deceptively fast grower, but for a successful hedge good preparation is essential. Most soil types are suitable for yew, including extremely chalky and acidic ones, provided they are reasonably well drained. Unlike almost any other hedging, once established a yew hedge only needs clipping once a year. It is versatile too; although Taxus hedges can grow to great heights, an established yew hedge can also be kept at as low as 60 cms.
To encourage good growth, prepare the ground well, ensuring good drainage, and mulch with old mushroom compost in early spring. Clip in autumn and remove wispy shoots in mid-winter. Yew is one of very few conifers, which can be cut back, so old hedges can be reshaped. Depending on size plant at between 1.5 and 3 plants per metre in a single row.
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