Planting a yew hedge in clay soil

Harrogate Gardens | Yorkshire

The yew tree (or Taxus) is a very popular hedging plant and has been for hundreds of years. You can go to nearly any country estate or stately home and you’ll find yew hedges. The reason behind this comes down to its dense and compact habit and beautiful deep evergreen foliage. It’s easy to tame into tight hedges and topiary and definitely holds up against some of the other cheaper option.

Lets compare the different options and see.

Conifer

Pros

• Evergreen - Holds it’s foliage all year round

• Wildlife heaven - Amazing habitat for a wealth of wild things

• Drought resilient - Once established can hold up prolonged period with no rain.

Cons

• Beware when pruning - If you cut past the green and into the wood you will be left with a brown patch that might not come back.

• Overgrowth - Conifers can easily over grow if not regularly pruned.

Yew

Pros

• Evergreen - Holds it’s foliage all year round

• Wildlife heaven - Amazing habitat for a wealth of wild things

• Appearance - Beautiful tight hedges, used a lot in stately homes

Cons

• Poisonous - The needles and the seeds are poisonous if ingested. Don’t eat you hedge!

• Expensive - Yew is on the more expensive end of the scale.

Box

Pros

• Evergreen - Holds it’s foliage all year round

• Easy to maintain - Slow growing and easy to clip, perfect for low hedges.

• Works in shady areas - Box is more that happy growing in shady areas.

Cons

• Blight - Box blight is a disease that affects the growth of the plant and can leave large patches of dead.

Yew Is My Favourite Tree

Yew is my favourite tree - so much so I named my first son after one (the old Norse word btw - he's not called Yew!!)

“The yew tree is the most important of all the healing trees, it said. It lives for thousands of years. Its berries, its bark, its leaves, its sap, its pulp, its wood, they all thrum and burn and twist with life. It can cure almost any ailment man suffers from, mixed and treated by the right apothecary.”

― Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls

The ancient Yews of the UK are our oldest trees. Extensively harvested for crafting longbows and long trusted to watch over our dead in graveyards, they have survived hundreds of years amongst us, standing squat and broodling over a scuttling of humanity, in both life and death.

I love climbing the twisting gnarled branches and hiding in the dark of the dense canopy. I love the mystery of its age and wonder about the people who have sat there before me. Even more I love to wander amongst ancient Yew topiary, where its relationship with man is displayed best. An unleashed wild spirit, defiantly lumpy and awkward, tamed but never quite constrained.

Folklore surrounding the Yew tree takes us deep into our past. A symbol of death and resurrection for the Druids, Yews were considered sacred and used as pre- Christian gathering places. Its reputation for toxicity earned it a mention as a poison in Shakespeares’ ‘Macbeth” and probably explains its long association with graveyards and the dead. Despite being feared and revered, the poisonous Yew leaf has proven useful in modern medicine and is now used to make a chemotherapy drug for fighting cancer.

I love that this tree still plays such an important role in our culture. For me its use in garden design is a real thrill. I love to see this most ancient of plants still being used in contemporary spaces, providing structure and focal points that create interest all year round. And the birds love them …. And that's always a big win in my book.

So when we were asked to plant a yew hedge for garden designer Robert Hardy (pictured opposite), we jumped the chance.

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Planting a Yew Hedge on Clay

The big issue with Yew is that they don't like wet feet - so be careful if you are planting into clay soil, which is notoriously poorly drained. If Yew roots are sat in water they will drown, and the plant will turn brown and die.

If you want to plant on a site that is poorly drained, such as on clay, there is a strong chance of your yew trees roots being sat in water. If this is the case then either choose something else, or install drainage. If you want to get drainage installed, talk to a landscaper or drainage expert, who will be able to advise you. Drainage installation is difficult and therefore expensive, so be prepared for that.

Do not under any circumstances think that you can dig a hole, add gravel and compost and plant into it. All you are doing is creating a nice bath full of water retentive material for your Yew roots to sit in. The drainage problem is still there, you just made it worse.

If you are planting on clay, as we have been this week, you have to be sneaky. Ignore the standard advice on preparing a planting hole - you need to slit plant.

What is slit planting?

Slit Planting Method

Slit planting is the method used by commercial tree planters all over the world. By slit planting you are minimising the amount of air spaces available for water to collect in. By not adding any organic matter you are not adding any moisture retentive material for the roots to sit in.You need to choose small, bare root plants to do this. They will have the best chance of survival and are easily slit planted. If your roots are too large to fit in a slit, remove a clod, place your plant in and heel the clod back in over the top.

At GardenWild we use Rootgrow - an RHS endorsed Mycorrhizal Fungi which attaches itself to the roots of your bare root plants and grows out into the soil. This acts to increase the active root area of the plant by up 700 times. Evidence shows that using Rootgrow dramatically increases the chance of success for your plants.

Expect your plants to take a little longer to get going than in a better drained soil, but ultimately a nutrient rich clay soil can be a happy home for Yew.

• This method is for bare-root planting only.

• Place a line where you wish the hedge to follow leaving a bit of rood for the hedge to grow.

• Space the hedge at about 3 per meter along the line.

• Stick a spade in to the soil where the yew is to be planted and wiggle back and forth to widen the gap. You may need to make bigger or smaller slits depending on the size of the roots.

• Put the bare-roots into the slit making sure that all the roots are completely inside the hole and covered.

• Heel the slit closed

• You may want to use stakes or some other method to protect the hedge in more exposed areas.

Everything you need to know about planting a yew hedge on clay soil. Watch the team at GardenWild use slit planting for a bare root yew hedge.The big issue w...

Pruning your new Yew Hedge

Remember - don't cut the tops of your Yew plants until they have reached the desired height.

By cutting out the leader you will slow down the upward growth dramatically. If left to grow they can increase in height by 40 cm a year. If you cut the tops of it will slow to as little as 5cm a year.

By all means cut the sides. In fact cut the sides immediately after planting. Then we recommend in the first few years you cut the sides at least three times a year. April, July and October. This will give you a thicker, bushier hedge. Try to leave the lower branches wider than the top to create a ‘Batter’, where the bottom is slightly wider than the top.

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Here’s some other hedge plants to consider:

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