Yew, tree and bush: variety of varieties, features of planting and care

Yew berry is an evergreen coniferous perennial. But in different countries they also gave it other names: green tree, negnyushka, mahogany.

The wood of these trees is very durable, but it has long been noted that it has bactericidal properties. Therefore, the green grass was mercilessly cut down, and currently the amount of greenery has sharply decreased. It is worth noting that redwood seedlings grow extremely slowly, so it will not be possible to quickly replenish the plantings. The lifespan of this amazing tree is more than 3.5 thousand years.

Botanical description

Yew berry is a tree that grows in height up to 26-27 m, grows well in the shade on any soil with an alkaline or slightly acidic reaction. Young trees should be watered regularly once every 30 days, but mature yew requires watering only during periods of drought.

Mahogany wood is dense, high quality, painted brown with a reddish tint. The shoots are straight, strong, covered with flat soft needles (the length of the needles is up to 3 cm). The color of the needles is soft green. Trees and shrubs of the non-broom varieties look so beautiful all year round. And in the last ten days of April - the second ten days of May, flowers appear on the shoots - small cones of light green color. By the beginning of autumn, these original flowers ripen and become pink with red berries. Some varieties of mahogany have yellow berries.

Video description

About the history and agricultural technology of yew in the following video:

Medium yew (Hixie variety)

A natural hybrid, reminiscent of both a berry and a Far Eastern species, its characteristic feature is resistance to any climatic vagaries, from drought to frost. About 40 varieties of medium yew are used in gardening design, among which there are female (fruit-bearing) and male species.

The Hixi variety, which has a columnar crown, is popular. Plants are suitable both for single planting and for forming alleys or hedges. The crown shape is columnar; in adult specimens it expands upward, and the side shoots reach one and a half meters without pruning.

Young seedling of the Hixi variety Source ytimg.com

A shrub with a dense dense crown has the following differences:

• It grows quickly, 10-15 cm per year, reaching 4-5 m in adulthood.
• The needles are dark green, shiny and soft, evenly covering the branches. On vertical branches the needles are located radially, on horizontal ones they grow in two rows.
• The variety is female, bears bright red decorative fruits.
• The shrub is unpretentious to weather conditions: it grows in the sun and in partial shade, and can withstand frosts down to -30°C.
• It is considered a versatile plant, suitable for hedges and small plot conditions. Unlike many other varieties, it can grow in urban areas (near highways).

Yew border in the design of a recreation area Source abladeofgrass.com

Varieties and types of yew berry

Fastigiata

A columnar-shaped perennial coniferous shrub, reaching a height of 5.5-6.0 m, and a radius of about 1.5 m. This coniferous perennial grows slowly, gaining a height of no more than 10-12 cm per season. In young shrubs The crown is narrow, and with age it begins to grow to the sides. The shoots are short and grow close to each other on the trunk. The needles are up to 2 cm in size, the color is green with a black tint.

Repandence

Popular with flower growers and landscape designers due to the good decorative properties of these shrubs. The bushes do not grow higher than 0.5-0.6 m in height, and grow in width to 1.0-1.5 m in radius. This variety was put on sale by the American company Parsons; the main recommendations are the use of yew for landscaping areas in squares and parks. The main shoots grow vertically from the center of the bush, and as they grow, they bend towards the ground and grow further in the horizontal direction. This coniferous shrub is shade-tolerant and frost-resistant.

Summergold

One of the most beautiful and most common representatives of the mahogany tree, this perennial shrub is popular among landscape designers due to its high decorativeness and unpretentiousness. These shrubs are used in landscape design both in single and group plantings. Yew berry summergold is best combined with junipers or dwarf spruce species.

Description, use in landscape design

The Yew family unites shrubs and trees growing in Europe, Asia and North America. Plant height ranges from 1 to 20 m (usually no more than 10 m). The diameter of the trunk of large specimens can reach 1.5 m. Due to species diversity, the question of what the yew looks like should include an explanation of what kind of plant we are talking about.

Breeders have developed many decorative forms that, unlike their natural counterparts, are compact and suitable for cultivation even in small areas. Plants have the following properties:

• Coniferous shrubs and trees grow slowly, many have a long life expectancy (for example, yew).

The Yew family has characteristic flat needles Source agronomu.com

• Decorative forms are distinguished by the bright colors of needles, bark and berries; they serve as decoration for the local area all year round and go well with both coniferous and deciduous trees.
• The needles are thick, bright in color, and odorless; needles are flat, dark green. The shape of the crown can be different: cylindrical, cone-shaped, spherical, columnar.
• Yew trees take root well in central Russia due to their frost resistance and shade tolerance.
• Yew berry (European) is a poisonous plant in which almost everything is dangerous, from wood to needles. The fruits are shaped like a glass open at the top; The juicy bright pulp itself is edible, but the seeds in the apex are extremely poisonous.
• Conifers of the Yew family are unpretentious in care. Plants form new shoots throughout their life. They tolerate pruning well and, since they grow slowly, retain their given shape for a long time and are suitable for creating topiary compositions (with a curly haircut).

How topiary can change garden design Source christiesrealestate.com
Evergreen yew has been cultivated in European gardens and parks since the 17th century. The tradition has survived to this day: yew trees are used both in landscape gardening art and in the garden design of private plots. They are used in the following ways:

• For creating group compositions and hedges. A beautiful decorative effect is obtained when combined with conifers that differ in the color and structure of the needles.
• In group and single plantings (often with a topiary, like a garden sculpture).
• For designing garden paths (in the form of trimmed borders).
• As an element of alpine slides and rockeries.
• For landscaping terraces and roofs.
• Columnar-shaped conifers are used to create majestic alleys.

Medicinal properties and uses

Separately, we should talk about the medicinal properties of yew and its use. Since the prepared raw materials are poisonous, most drugs based on them are used only externally.

Due to its decorative properties, yew is actively used in landscape design. Experts, pruning bushes several times a season, give bushes and trees a variety of shapes. One of the most commonly used in landscaping park areas is the Berry David yew.

The wood of this plant is very durable, so it was actively used for furniture production. As a result, the red tree was on the verge of extinction and was listed in the Red Book as an endangered species. The main reason that this plant is on the verge of extinction is the slow growth of trees and shrubs of the yew genus.

About yew and its distribution area

Nowadays, yew as a plant does not have much forestry significance, although in earlier eras its wood was much more valuable. It has an interesting set of qualities: hard, dense (and therefore heavy) and at the same time elastic and easy to process.

For, without exaggeration, teak has been used to make spears and bows for thousands of years. The oldest spear was found in England, whose age was determined to be 150 thousand years. A Neanderthal man hunted with another spear, found in Germany, 90 thousand years ago. Eight yew bows were found in northern Germany, the age of which has been radiocarbon dated and ranges from 8 to 5 thousand years.

Bows have been in widespread use over the past two thousand years, but their importance began to wane at the end of the Middle Ages when firearms appeared. Muskets came in handy: by the middle of the 16th century, the yew reserves of Central and Southern Europe were so depleted that yew wood began to be imported from the Baltic states and the Carpathians.

The fruits give the yew a decorative appearance. Source news.store.rambler.ru

The mass production of bows, when the straightest and tallest trees were cut down, is the reason that today most European varieties of yew have a bush-like form. Of course, household items were also made from wood (for example, barrels and dishes), but by the 17th century, ephedra had already found use in landscape design.

Why is yew useful?

It is well known that many poisons in large quantities are fatal to humans, but in small quantities they are excellent medicines. So mahogany raw materials are added in small quantities in the production of painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, and anesthetics.

And if you should be careful when taking such drugs orally and strictly adhere to the doses indicated in the instructions, then for external use, drugs based on this plant are widely used.

Infusions or decoctions are prepared from the needles, lotions based on which help in the treatment of gout and relieve rheumatic pain in the joints. Also, lotions and compresses based on yew berry are used in the treatment of many skin diseases:

• dermatitis;
• scabies;
• mycosis of the skin.

Video description

About the yew hedge in the following video:

• Caring for yew includes simple steps: regular watering, loosening and mulching the soil, protection from insect pests.
• The first fertilizing is carried out during planting (use a standard mineral complex for coniferous species). In the future, compost is added annually, and in the fall - mineral fertilizing in an aqueous solution (in half the dose).
• Young seedlings of many varieties are vulnerable to winter and spring colds; in the first years they will need insulation.
• In the first year after planting, watering should be quite intense, but without waterlogging (the soil should be dry at a depth of 10 cm). In dry, hot summers, sprinkling is carried out in the evenings. Young plants need 15-20 liters of water once a month.
• Young seedlings are not pruned (this will slow down their growth), with the exception of sanitary pruning of dead and damaged branches. Varieties with a pyramidal crown are not pruned at all, but shrubby species begin to be pruned at the age of 10.

Alley of yew trees Source remodelista.com

Chemical composition, toxicity

Based on research, it was revealed that the plant’s raw materials include:

• poisonous alkaloids (taxine, ephedrine, taxicantine);
• malosein;
• vitamins (E, K);
• terpenoids;
• taxifillin;
• lignans;
• tannins;
• phenol derivatives;
• flavonoids;
• anthocyanins;
• fatty acid;
• higher alcohols and carbohydrates.

Some of the listed substances are poisonous, so doctors do not recommend taking drugs based on poisonous yew without prior consultation with specialists.

Habitat

The places where yew grows naturally are determined by the specific species. Thus, short-leaved yew grows in Canada and the northern United States.

Yew berry is widespread throughout almost all of Western Europe; it can be found in the Carpathians, the Caucasus, Syria, and Asia Minor.

• Pointed yew grows in East Asia. In Russia, yew grows in the Southern Crimea - this is the well-known berry yew, and also on the Kuril Islands there is a pointed yew.
• In the Far East, yew is found in isolated specimens. However, there may also be small forests. Such forests, for example, can be found on the Kievka and Avvakumovka rivers.
• There are a large number of yew trees on the Kuril Islands; on Kunashir there is a giant tree of eighteen meters and a girth of more than a meter. Other islands in the area are also inhabited by yew trees. But the center of habitat of this plant is Petrov Island, on which there is a yew forest

But the largest place where the tree grows is the Batsar Gorge in Kakheti. The area of ​​pure yew and mixed yew-beech forests is more than 207 hectares; there are more than 13,000 old yew trees and about 223,000 relatively young ones that have not yet reached the age of one hundred.

The largest specimens are located in the Batsarsky Nature Reserve. And some of them reach 165 cm in diameter and 32 m in height. The approximate age of these giants is 1700-1800 years.

Side effects and contraindications of yew berry

Foliage, shoots and other above-ground parts of fastigiata aurea and other varieties of yew berry are dangerous to people and animals. Ephedrine, which is part of them, causes the heart to beat faster, increases excitement, and increases blood pressure.

Signs of poisoning

• nausea;
• bouts of vomiting;
• general weakness;
• sudden attacks of drowsiness;
• breathing becomes difficult.

Without consulting your healthcare professional, you should not take medications containing any parts of this shrub. Symptoms of poisoning by this plant are similar to those of the flu.

It should be remembered: if, in case of poisoning with drugs containing the raw materials of this plant, you do not rinse the stomach in time and do not seek help from doctors in time, death is inevitable.

Description of the yew tree

Evergreen yews are trees, less often shrubs. They grow up to 20 meters. The trunks are smooth, covered with brown bark with shades of red. The branches are very elastic, with beautiful flat needles.

A distinctive feature of the species is its slow growth. In 20 years, the tree will barely be able to approach two meters in height. But his life lasts for several thousand years.

Interesting. The oldest yew tree is over 4000 years old. It grows in Scotland, and according to legend, it was this tree that saw Pontius Pilate spend his childhood.

The yew bush is very fluffy and may have several tops.

• Yew has a powerful root system, and this gives the tree the ability to cling to any soil.
• The needles are dark green, up to 35 mm.

Flowering occurs in mid-spring (April), fruits ripen in mid-autumn (October). Single cones.

Interesting. The plant is poisonous. In the old days, when poisons were the solution to problems at any level, yew wine cups were used to quickly eliminate an opponent. Death came quickly.

How to prepare and store medicinal raw materials

The needles of this plant are used for medicinal purposes. All parts of this shrub are deadly poisonous, except for the berries. Therefore, the prepared raw materials are used only for external use.

During the summer season, needles are collected from bushes and dried on open terraces or verandas in the shade. Dried raw materials should be stored in glass containers with a tightly closed lid. Place these jars in a dark, dry place. Harvested raw materials (due to their toxic properties) should be stored separately from other medicinal herbs.

Beautiful bushes and yew trees will decorate any garden or garden plot. They can be cut into the most unusual shapes. But you should remember - you should eat yew berries, as well as pine needles, only after consultation with specialists.

Planting and caring for seedlings

Regardless of the type of yew that you decide to plant on your site, seedlings should be purchased from specialized stores or nurseries (they must have an earthen ball that protects the root system). In this case, you will get a healthy plant that will quickly take root regardless of local climatic conditions.

It is also useful to get advice from the seller and follow his recommendations when planting. On average, planting and care is carried out according to the following rules:

• For planting, the time chosen is from the end of August to October (the time depends on the climate of the region).
• Like other conifers, yew is planted in open ground with preliminary soaking and stratification (exposure to cold, for example, in a refrigerator).
• A drainage layer of broken brick or a mixture of sand and crushed stone is placed in the planting pit. The hole is made approximately 70 cm deep, with a diameter 15-20 cm larger than the earthen clod.
• Dwarf varieties are suitable for keeping in containers or pots. With their help you can landscape your balcony, terrace, gazebo, or hall.

Molding a yew bush Source ytimg.com