The Yew hedge has a reputation for being the king of the hedges and it’s not hard to see why. Planted for thousands of years in the UK and Europe.
Our top reasons for planting a yew hedge
1. Yew has dense evergreen canopy making it an excellent, long-lasting canvas for other garden plants and provides privacy protection and noise reduction.
2. Taxus baccata is a low-maintenance hedge plant and you can keep your hedge in tip-top shape by only pruning once a year. However, if you are faced with an overgrown yew hedge, it can tolerate hard pruning as well.
3. Being a native evergreen, Taxus can have a positive impact on the surrounding environment by increasing local biodiversity.
4. The yew hedge is not fussy about its planting site, as long as there is good drainage (it hates wet feet) it will thrive in most soils and sites, including a shady location.
5. Yew hedges look great at any height, with the option of a 1 meter formal hedge or 4 meter large screen, you can use the yew in any size garden.
6. Popular with wildlife, Taxus baccata hedges provide food and shelter for a variety of birds. Robins, wax wings, and jays feast on bright red arils, and wrens often find their home in dense foliage.
7. Yew hedges come in all root types, with grow pots, cultured cells, and instant feeders available all year round. Yew is one of the few evergreen species that come bare-rooted, and unlike most other sod species, you can plant Taxus baccata sod at any time of the year, except for the warmer months.
8. The yew is famous for being an extremely long-lived species and there are still yew trees across the UK that were planted hundreds of years ago. One of the most recognized groups of yew trees is found in Painswick, with over 100 standing trees planted in the 18th century.