Wood yew properties. Growing a berry yew and caring for an ornamental plant. Yew berry Washington

Class: conifers (Pinopsida).

Order: pine (Pinales).

Family: yew (Taxaceae).

Genus: yew (Taxus).

View: short-leaved yew (T. brevifolia).

Short-leaved yew is an evergreen shrub or slender small tree up to 15 m tall. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the description of this plant, see a photo of the yew tree, learn about the biology of its development and where the yew grows. You can also learn interesting facts about the yew tree and its uses.

The crown of the shrub is predominantly wide, conical, the branches are drooping. The leaves of the yew tree are dark green, shiny, alternate, flat, lanceolate, arranged very densely on the branches.

Look at the photo: yew is a dioecious plant, but you can only notice male cones on this shrub. There are no female cones on the coniferous yew tree as such.

The ovules from the sides close the juicy seedlings, which turn red in mature cones. The cones themselves are rounded, up to 1 cm in diameter, with one brown seed.

Cones appear in spring, pollination occurs with the help of wind. Cone berries ripen for about nine months, the seeds are swallowed and spread through the forest by birds. The tree grows very slowly; on a young plant, the first cones appear only by the age of 30.

Short-leaved yew reproduces by seeds and vegetatively - root offspring.

Where does yew grow and a photo of a shrub

The range of the short-leaved yew covers the northwestern United States (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) and Canada (Alberta and British Columbia). Some populations are found in protected areas, such as Olympic National Park (Washington, USA).

The tree grows in dense or sparse groups in coniferous forests of coastal and mountainous regions at an altitude of up to 2440 m above sea level. Prefers damp places.

Pay attention to the photo of the yew bush in its natural habitat - it does not like the bright sun and it usually grows in the undergrowth under the cover of tall shady trees

In antiquity, it was believed that yew is a tree of death and eternal rest, which grows at the entrance to the afterlife. Carelessly falling asleep under its shadow, a person could leave the world of the living forever. That is why the branches of the plant were used in funeral rituals. In ancient Egypt, sarcophagi were made from yew wood. Among the Celts and the southern Slavs, the tree was considered magical, it protected a person from diseases and evil spirits.

In the writings of Pliny the Elder, there is a mention of a sophisticated method of poisoning: in a yew dish, a person was served ordinary food or drink - the taste of the product did not change from this, but the product itself became poisonous.

Yew berry(T. baccata), Canadian(T. canadensis), pointed(T. cuspidata), average(T.media)- spectacular park plants that are used both for a single planting and for creating hedges and labyrinths. The branches of the tree remain green all year round, the crown is easily formed and does not require frequent cutting. Short-leaved yew is also grown in Western Europe, but much less frequently than other species, because it is afraid of low temperatures.

The wood of the plant is very valuable. It is strong, durable, resistant to moisture and microorganisms. For such qualities, the yew was called the non-rotten.

Furniture, musical instruments, knife handles are made of wood.

Yew contains taxine, a deadly poisonous alkaloid. Needles and seeds are especially toxic, only seedlings are edible.

Yew has been used to make weapons since ancient times. In Lower Saxony, a spear belonging to a Neanderthal was found. The age of the find is approximately 90,000 years old, it is one of the oldest wooden objects that have survived to this day.

Over the past three generations, the species has decreased by 30%, and this trend continues. This is due to deforestation, fires and too intensive harvesting of the plant as a medicinal raw material. Currently, alternative methods are being developed for the production of medicines and they are trying to use Asian species of this plant.

Above you can see a photo of a yew tree grown as a bonsai. Due to its slow growth, yew (in this case, spiky) is ideal for creating miniature compositions.

In folk medicine, yew needles are used to prepare abortive and antitumor drugs. The benefits of their use are doubtful, but the risk of poisoning is obvious.

Yew berry is held in high esteem by landscape designers due to its originality. This coniferous culture with scarlet drupes looks elegant and elegant in any composition. In addition to good external data, the berry yew is distinguished by a long lifespan, simplicity and unpretentiousness of growing in open ground. To fully reveal the beauty of the varieties of this plant, take care of the correct and timely planting and care of it.

Description: varieties and varieties of yew berry

Yew berry - a unique coniferous culture:

• cones do not grow on it;
• the tree does not emit resins with a characteristic odor;
• wood does not rot, does not sink and has a strong bactericidal effect.

Plant characteristics:

• height - usually about 1 m;
• crown shape - oval, dense, has several tops;
• needles - up to 3.5 cm, flat and soft, dark or yellow-green;

Fruits of yew berry

• in autumn, the branches are covered with bright scarlet berries;
• the root is powerful and branched, able to drown out neighboring plants.

You can even choose a suitable yew variety from a photo. Most requested:

Attention! Culture is listed in the Red Book.

Yew berry: planting a plant

Varieties of yew berry differ significantly in their liking. However, there are also common features:

1. For culture, you need a light, nutritious and well-drained soil. A substrate of peat and river sand (40% each) in combination with leafy turf (30%) has proven itself well.
2. Acidity is not a fundamental soil parameter for a plant. The main thing is that it should not be sandy.
3. Most varieties do not tolerate smoke, gases and heavy deposits in the soil of a large city.
4. For the predominant number of yew varieties, excess moisture in the soil is detrimental.

Planting yew berry should be carried out only in the spring. Make a hole in the ground about 0.7 m deep. For a single-row hedge, dig a trench about half a meter deep. There should be at least 2 m between seedlings. Place the plant in the hole, dig in and water.

Attention! When planting, the root neck should remain above the ground.

Yew berry care

This culture belongs to the northern ones, and in general is able to cope with the vagaries of the Russian weather. Care can be reduced to the following aspects:

Planting yew berry

• The plant needs regular watering in the first 2 seasons. The norm is 6-10 liters once a month for each tree. Your task is to keep the soil moist, but not overdo it. For example, you should not water a tree if the summer is rainy. And vice versa: in a drought, it is better to increase the norm a little.
• Spray the needles to remove dust. This should be done a couple of times a month in addition to watering.
• Yew roots in the first 2-3 seasons are in dire need of air access, so it is better to loosen the soil more often. Depth - up to 15 cm.
• In the first year of life in the open field, cover the near-trunk section of the yew with peat or woodchip mulch with a layer of at least 5 cm.
• Young trees should be insulated at the end of autumn with spruce branches. Adult plants do not need such care.
• Starting from the second year of life in the open field, pruning is required for the yew. In early spring, shorten the branches by 1/3. Also remove damaged and dried shoots. In adult plants, pruning is more thorough, taking into account varietal characteristics.

Fertilizer and top dressing of yew berry

In the process of growing, the plant needs several fertilizers:

1. When landing. Before placing the seedling in the hole, add a universal mineral mixture - 100 g / sq.m.
2. Repeated top dressing with the same complex - 70 g / sq.m.
3. Annual fertilizer in the spring with rotted organic matter - 1 time per season.
4. Annual summer top dressing with liquid mullein - 2 times a season.

Advice. Dig up the top layer of soil before fertilizing.

Plant propagation in the area

Reproduction of yew berry in open ground can be done by cuttings or seeds. It will take at least 1.5 years to grow seedlings from seeds. First, find the berries. They need to be plucked in the fall:

It is very important to observe the watering regimen of yew berry

1. Cleanse the pulp. Dry.
2. Do a stratification. To do this, store in conditions of low humidity and a temperature of about +5 °C.
3. A year later, the seeds can be sown in fertile and loose soil, under the film. The soil in the pot must be covered with a layer of needles.

With such care, about 70% of the seeds should sprout by spring. Without stratification, seedlings will have to wait at least three years. But instead of this procedure, chemical treatment can be used for seed propagation: pour for 30 minutes. sulfuric acid and then rinse thoroughly. Both methods can be used at the same time.

To get a cutting suitable for propagation in early autumn, find an adult branch and cut it into segments of 15-20 cm. Each must have at least 3 shoots. Remove the needles from the lower end of the branch and plant it in a container. Soil - peat, sand and crushed coniferous bark. In the coming spring, the trees can be rooted. In open ground, they will grow in 7 years, in a greenhouse - in 5.

Advice. For accelerated reproduction and cultivation, cuttings are advised to be treated with a root stimulator before planting.

Diseases and pests of yew berry

When grown in a sunny place with proper care, the plant has a powerful immunity to various ailments. Sometimes yew berry is disturbed by insects:

• yew gall midge;
• yew false shield.

yew seeds

You can recognize them from the photo. Folk methods against them are not effective. In both cases, treat the tree with a 2% mixture of karbofos. In the fight against false shields, preventive spraying with nitrofen will help before the kidneys swell.

Yew berry: combination with other plants

Depending on the variety, yew can be used to create green hedges, borders, accents in the composition. Figures are also cut out of the tree, which then retain their shape for a long time. The combination of yew berry with other flowering crops is almost always advantageous. The tree looks especially good in the company of juniper, western thuja, Japanese quince.

Yew is a coniferous tree or shrub, it has a large number of varieties and varieties. This plant is unpretentious in care and is a long-liver. Gardeners are very fond of using yew when creating hedges in home gardens and summer cottages, in parks and squares. It is widely distributed mainly on the European continent and is a long-lived record holder. Description and photo of yew berry will be presented in the article.

General information

Yew berry belongs to the coniferous species of trees of the yew family. Growing up, it reaches a height of 10 to 20 meters, sometimes up to 28 meters. The growth of the yew is slow, but it has an impressive lifespan - some live up to one and a half or even up to four thousand years. One of the oldest trees in Europe is the Fortingall yew, which grows in Scotland, which, according to scientists, is from two to five thousand years old.

The tree has a diameter of about one and a half meters and an ovoid-cylindrical dense crown. Very often, yews have multi-peaked crown types. Its bark is reddish-gray in color, with a lamellar or smooth texture. Yew buds are round or oval, light brown in color, with a small amount of scales.

The photo of the yew berry shows that the tree trunk is covered with a large number of "sleeping" buds, which give numerous side shoots. The leaves of the needles are from 20 to 35 mm long and 2-2.5 mm wide, they have a dark green color with a brilliant tint.

Habitat

Yew berry is widely distributed in Central, Western and Southern Europe, in Northern it reaches the territory of Norway, Sweden and the Aland Islands. It also grows in northern Iran, southwest Asia and northwest Africa. On the territory of Russia and in the countries bordering it, yew forests are well preserved in the Carpathians and the Crimean mountains. It is also distributed in the western part of the North Caucasus (Tisosamshitovaya Grove, Caucasian Reserve).

In Belarus, there are local places where yew grows, especially in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. It is also widely represented in the Kaliningrad region of Russia and the western regions of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Yew most often grows in forests, undergrowth and tree stand, on the plains. In the mountains, it can be found at an altitude of up to two thousand meters above sea level.

Fastigiata Robusta

Berry yew has several varieties. One of the most common is the yew Fastigiata Robusta, or European. In Latin, "fastigiata" means "conical", which alludes to the shape of the tree. Let's consider it in more detail.

Yew berry Fastigiata Robusta is an evergreen, large shrub that grows strictly upright. It has a dense, slender crown shape that resembles a column. Robusta branches are not strongly branched, densely spaced, with a large number of short shoots. Growing up, it reaches a height of four to eight meters, and a width of 0.8 to 1.5 meters.

The structure of the needles is needle-shaped, the arrangement is radial, wide. In shape, it is slightly curved downwards, has a juicy green color. This type of yew prefers to grow in moist soils that are saturated with minerals and many nutrients, as well as on calcareous soils. At the same time, he is not very whimsical and feels good in slightly acidic and moderately dry types of soil, but does not tolerate strongly acidic ones.

Yew berry Fastigiata is resistant to pressure on the root system from other plants, wind-resistant and takes root well in an urban environment. Fastigiata Robusta is a long-lived plant and can reach thousands of years of age. This type of yew is ideal for landscaping, creating various architectural forms and hedges.

Grade Summergold

Another common variety is Summergold, which translates into Russian as "Golden Summer". Yew berry Summergold is a coniferous, evergreen plant. It grows extremely slowly, like its counterparts of other varieties, ten years after its planting, this yew grows only up to one meter. Its color depends on the season, if in summer it has a golden yellow hue, then in the rest of the time it is greenish brown.

An adult plant can easily endure the cold, and young ones need to be insulated for the winter. The Summergold yew also handles windy weather well. It is resistant to heat and does not burn from direct sunlight, but it is preferable to plant it in semi-shaded places.

Yew berry of this variety is a long-liver, especially when growing in favorable conditions. Its needles reach three centimeters in length and are located quite densely on shoots that have a crescent shape and wide edges.

The root system is very plastic, it is very well suited to slightly moist soils, in which the content of the nutrient medium is significantly higher than in dry ones. However, very wet soil will not suit this yew, as this will lead to rotting of the roots, and calcareous soil is ideal for it.

Yew berry: planting and care

For proper planting of yew, you first need to choose the right soil. It grows and develops quickly in light, moist soil with rich nutrients and a good drainage system. Drainage is very easy to do on your own, for this you need to mix soddy soil, sand and peat in a ratio of 3:2:2.

You should not plant a yew in soil with high acidity, it will feel better in a slightly acidic or alkaline environment. And also sandy soil and soil with a high content of heavy metal salts are contraindicated for him, since the shrub will quickly die in it.

Planting a yew berry requires compliance with certain conditions. If it is planned to plant several plants at once in one row, then it is necessary to maintain a distance between shrubs from 0.5 to 1 meter. If the size of the site allows you to maintain a larger interval, then the distance is recommended to be increased to 2.5 meters.

Landing in the ground

When planting in open soil, you need to take into account a number of nuances. These include the following:

• Planting yew bushes in open ground is carried out in early or mid-spring. Before planting, they dig holes with a depth of 60 to 70 cm. If it is planned to create a hedge from shrubs, then in this case a trench is dug with a depth of no more than half a meter.
• It is recommended to add a special soil mixture, the so-called coniferous soil, to the prepared holes (trench). It is rich in soil fungi, which help the root system to better organize the relationship with the new soil and saturate the shrub with microelements and nitrogen.
• The cuttings of the yew berry are placed in the holes and sprinkled with earth, while the root collar does not need to be buried. After planting, the soil around the seedlings must be lightly tamped and poured abundantly with water at room temperature.

Care after landing. Watering

In the first year after planting a yew, the shrub needs to be watered quite often. This is due to the fact that at this time the root system is still not well developed and is unable to consume nutrients and moisture from the soil in the required quantities.

In the following years, one watering per week will be enough, and in the event of a dry period, once every five days. It is especially necessary to pay attention to young plants. For one shrub you need to use 10 liters of water.

In order for the evaporation of moisture from the soil surface to occur more slowly, it is necessary to mulch. To do this, the soil around the trunk must be sprinkled with bark or wood chips, while the layer thickness should be from five to seven centimeters. After mulching, the shrub is watered much less frequently.

Yew berry: care using fertilizers

After the first top dressing of a yew during planting, the next time it must be fertilized after one year. At the same time, the amount of the nutrient mixture is reduced by 30%. Adult yews do not require fertilizer, as they have already formed and receive all the substances necessary for growth and development from the soil and moisture.

Young shrubs are recommended to be fed with complex mineral fertilizers. After two years of age, top dressing is completely stopped, since concentrated supplements will not only not be beneficial, but can also cause stunting of the plant.

Young yew after the first wintering is recommended to be fertilized with humus or compost. Immediately before top dressing, the soil must be dug up and then supplemented. Digging is done so that the root system receives mineral and organic substances in full.

shrub pruning

The grown yews are pruned. This is done in several cases. Sanitary pruning removes damaged and dry branches. During this operation, the plant is shortened sufficiently to prevent re-drying. Even after heavy pruning, the shrub recovers very quickly, regardless of the age of the plant.

Decorative pruning, like sanitary pruning, is done in autumn, spring or summer. The branches are reduced by one third of their length. To form the crown of a shrub, branches are cut with a pruner. A garden knife is used to trim young shoots, and a garden saw is used to remove thick branches. Shaping pruning allows you to give the yew a beautiful look and create any shape. Often, entire sculptural compositions are created from these shrubs.

Propagation with seeds

In order to grow a yew from seeds, the fruits of the plant must be collected from an adult shrub in late autumn, when they are already fully ripe. After that, they are poured with water at room temperature and allowed to settle for two to three hours. This is done in order to be able to freely separate the outer shell of the seeds. Planting material must be dried and stratified within a year.

Stratification is carried out as follows: yew seeds are placed in a container with pre-calcined and sifted sand, which must be moistened. Instead of sand, you can use a special coconut substrate, which is purchased at a gardening store. Then the container is placed in a refrigerator, the temperature in which does not exceed +4 ... +5 ° С. One year later, stratified yew seeds are planted in a greenhouse, after which the planting site is mulched with needles. Provided that all procedures are carried out correctly, about 70% of seedlings will sprout in the spring.

Reproduction by cuttings

It is necessary to grow yew using cuttings from the beginning of April to the end of May or from the beginning of September to the third decade of October. The branches of an adult healthy plant are cut and spread into cuttings 15 to 20 cm long, three to four shoots are left on each cutting.

Containers for planting cuttings are filled with a mixture of peat, sand and crushed coniferous bark. The needles are removed from the base of the cuttings, then they are planted in prepared planting containers, which the ambassadors of this transfer to the greenhouse for wintering.

In order for the cuttings to take well and begin their development, they must be treated with growth stimulants. After the cuttings have grown and gained strength, in the spring they can be planted in open ground, observing the agrotechnical conditions. After five to seven years, full-fledged shrubs or trees will grow, however, if the seedlings are kept in the greenhouse, the growth process may decrease, delaying for two years.

Yew pests and how to deal with them

The main enemies of the yew are the so-called sucking and needle-eating pests. Sucking insects include:

• Worms.
• Shchitovki.
• False shields.
• Cicadas.
• Bed bugs.
• Gall mites.

These pests feed on the sap of the bush, which leads to the inhibition of the plant and very often to its death. Insects are located on the branches of the yew, sometimes in its tissues and gradually destroy it.

Coniferous pests include:

• Spruce leaflet-needleworm.
• Pine owl.
• Mosquito larvae.
• Snails.

They directly destroy the needles themselves, blooming buds and the root system.

Conclusion

From the above description of the yew berry, we can conclude that it is unpretentious in care and very convenient in landscape design. Following the simple recommendations and advice of gardeners on planting and growing, you can end up with a beautiful tree or shrub. It will delight with its beauty all year round for a very large amount of time.

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Climate influence and frost resistance

A hardiness zone is a region in which a certain plant species usually still tolerates winters well, in other words, the region where its cultural range begins. It is important to understand that the frost resistance of plants depends on many factors, all data on the climatic zones of winter hardiness are only approximate. In the aisles of one zone, the microclimate of some regions may differ significantly from the given data. So, for example, urban areas are usually half a step warmer than the surrounding landscape. Large bodies of water, areas, as well as slopes and hilltops, have a positive effect on the climate, while unfavorable conditions prevail in depressions and valleys.

The climate zone number is indicated under each plant description in the catalog, showing the degree of its resistance to low temperatures - the lower the zone number, the more frost-resistant the plant. Plants can often grow in regions of five or more climate zones. A plant from zone 2 can usually grow without problems in zones 3,4,5,6,7 and possibly also in zones 8 and 9. These zone recommendations are based on the availability of optimal conditions for each individual plant and do not take into account snow protection . Information about the climatic zones of frost resistance is also a hint for sheltering plants for the winter.

Map of winter hardiness zones of Ukraine

Winter hardiness zones and their ranges of average annual minimum temperatures

Abbreviations:

Yew (yew) is one of the longest-lived plants. According to legend, it is this tree that guards the entrance to the kingdom of the dead. Its wood has always been used to make expensive tombs. Crayfish for relics were also made from yew. Warriors and athletes ordered bows from the branches of this tree. It is believed that it was from a yew bow that Richard the Lionheart was killed. Yews adorned medieval castles, they poisoned enemies.

This yew is many years old

Description of some types of yew

Common in Western Europe yew berry (taxus baccata) families Yew (Taxaceae), which is why this species is sometimes called the European yew. It is a relatively tall evergreen coniferous tree or shrub. It can be seen in Belovezhskaya Pushcha and in the Kaliningrad region, yew feels good in the Crimea and the Caucasus. In mountainous areas it often grows as a tall shrub. Near Khosta (between Sochi and Adler) on the eastern slope of Mount Akhun there is a relic yew-boxwood grove. In 1931, it became a protected area, now it is under the protection of UNESCO. In Scotland, a very old yew berry grows, which is about nine thousand years old.

Garden forms of yew berry are diverse: columnar, weeping, dwarf, squat, flattened, creeping and prostrate.

Yew needles are not needle-shaped, but flat. It is usually green or with a bluish tint, in some varieties it is silver-motley, golden-bronze or with yellow stripes. There are varieties that change the “summer” color of the needles for the winter.

Yew variety " summergold "has yellowish needles. In a slow growing variety Elegantissima »by winter, the needles turn white. This beautiful yew must be well insulated for the winter.

Among the berry yews there are undersized shrubs with a height of only 0.5 - 1.5 m. responses "(with blue-green needles, often takes on a creeping crown shape) and" Elegantissima ". Variety " Fastigiata » in the Moscow region is undersized, in a milder climate it is taller. In winter it often freezes.

I consider one of the most beautiful hybrid " Silver Spire » with a columnar crown. The needles when blooming have a yellowish border, later (especially in winter) they become bluish-silver.

The wood of the yew berry is hard and heavy, red in color. She replenishes a large list of breeds related to the "mahogany". The tree does not rot for a long time, has bactericidal properties. From ancient times, funerary sarcophagi and cult accessories were made from it. The wood is beautifully polished and used to make expensive carved furniture and caskets.

All parts of the yew are poisonous to humans and most pets. Therefore, in some places, these trees were cut down after mass poisoning of residents and livestock. There were times when enemies were specially treated to drinks poured into yew goblets. In old plants, the concentration of toxins is maximum.

A beautiful winter-hardy tree or shrub grows another species - yew spiky(T. cuspidate). In nature, it can be seen on Sakhalin, the South Kuriles, Korea, China and Japan. In the Primorsky Territory there is the Lazovsky State Nature Reserve, where a grove of relic spiky yew grows on Petrov Island, which is more than a thousand years old.

The spiky yew has interesting tall and semi-dwarf varieties. A dense bush with a golden crown looks beautiful " Dwarf Bright Gold ". It is worth looking for a low-growing variety on sale " Monloo » with a dense cushion-shaped crown.

Even nurseries rarely have seedlings canadian yew(T. canadensis). This winter-hardy species is represented by low shrubs from eastern North America.

Tees medium- a hybrid of yew berry and spiky, bred at the very beginning of the 19th century in the USA. He gave many wonderful varieties. For example, with a wide-pyramidal crown (height 4 m, width 3 m) of the variety " Hatfieldii ". Unfortunately, many varieties can freeze in winter. Winter hardiness is distinguished by a dwarf variety with a bright green flattened wide crown. Taunton » (« Taunyonii »).

Yew cultivation

Place. Yew berry is a shade-tolerant coniferous tree or shrub listed in the Red Book. In nature, his seedlings grow under other trees for the first time, they need shading. It is worth choosing a place carefully, because we plant a plant that will live for at least a thousand years!

The soil. Yew has a developed root system, which allows it to live even on stony soil. Its roots get moisture from a great depth, so temporary drought is tolerated painlessly. This plant feels worse in areas where water stagnates. In such places, it is better to grow it not in open ground, but in containers.

Yew grows well in a container, but in the Moscow region it will have to be transferred for the winter to a place protected from frost

Yew is suitable for any soil except acidic. It is planted on neutral, slightly alkaline or calcareous soils. Fertile soils are preferred.

Watering. Water as the soil dries out, avoiding waterlogging.

fertilizers. They use special fertilizers for conifers, containing all the necessary elements in the right concentration and proportions.

Wintering. For young plants, a frosty winter can be a serious problem. In a sheltered and protected place, problems, as a rule, do not arise. Especially with additional insulation. In open space, the seedling is at risk. The first three to four winters it is insulated with spruce branches. The most frost-resistant are undersized forms, which are covered with snow in winter.

In frost, the branches of a yew (especially a young one) become brittle and can break. At the end of autumn, they are tied into a bundle, wrapped in non-woven material or placed on supports. This will protect the plants from damage that comes from accumulated snow or freezing rain.

It is advisable to provide protection from sunburn. Especially in young plants.

Diseases and pests. The yew rarely gets sick, unless agricultural technology is grossly violated. Occasionally, "witch's brooms" may appear with dense shortened shoots and pale needles.

Yew breeding

Yew is propagated by cuttings, layering and seeds.

cuttings. This simple propagation method allows you to get good seedlings, given some features of the cutting. Sometimes it is taken from a branch that has been directed upwards. Then, with a high probability, a compact, slender tree will grow. The stalk from a horizontally directed branch will become sprawling or spreading coniferous. Therefore, it is difficult to predict what the tree will be like when the purchased seedling grows up. The use of root stimulants increases the percentage of rooted cuttings. Sometimes succinic acid or aloe juice is used.

layering. This is another option for the successful rooting of yew. The lower branches that touch the ground take root themselves.

seeds. Seed propagation is quite difficult due to stratification, a long period and uneven germination. Seedlings may appear a year or three years after sowing the seeds. They remain viable for about four years.

Yew berry is a dioecious plant, i.e. you can not get seeds from every tree or bush. It begins to bear fruit at the age of 25-30 (sometimes later). The first 6 - 7 years yew berry grows slowly. It should be borne in mind that even an adult plant is a slow-growing one. A ten-year-old yew can grow a little over a meter.

The yew has no berries. What we think of as berries are seedlings, or arylluses, roofings. Juicy bright red shells envelop light brown seeds. The flesh is slimy and sweet. It is better for people not to try it, although it is the least poisonous part of the plant. Birds (especially blackbirds) like it.

Seeds of yew berry are surrounded by juicy scarlet roofing

Formation

Yew easily tolerates pruning. The stump left from a sawn tree overgrows with overgrowth. and yew screens become dense if they are regularly shaped.

Balls, cubes, pyramids and intricate shapes are cut out of the dense coniferous crown. These figures are held for a long time, because. yew grows very slowly. You need to skillfully form the crown, because. any error will be noticeable for a long time.

So only masters can form a yew

I like to shape the crowns of a variety of trees and shrubs, decorate the site with garden bonsai. But our yew, which is about fifteen years old, grows freely. I still hesitate to pick up a pruner to remove some of its luxurious dark green branches.

Don't forget about it

Yew is a poisonous plant, which must be taken into account when choosing a landing site.

Young seedlings need a special microclimate. They grow best with little shade, especially between conifers.

Many varieties of yew will grow over time, which must be considered even when planting. This plant has been planted for centuries.

Yew seedlings planted on the lawn

Many interesting varieties of yew (especially yew berry) do not always tolerate our winters well.

I advise you to first practice on a gentle corrective pruning of the yew crown and only after that proceed to a more daring one. Creating complex shapes takes skill. The slow-growing yew is not the best plant for beginners learning the art of curly haircuts.

It has been noticed that those workers of parks and garden complexes who are engaged in regular yew shearing are more likely than others to suffer from headaches and feel unwell after work.

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