Landscape Myth 3: Never Plant Taxus

Here’s a common landscape myth: Never plant Taxus.

Taxus, Yew.   You may not know their name but you’ve seen ’em before….those unimaginative, hard green shapes that line every house and driveway in suburban America—can’t we just move past them and not use them anymore?  We’re tired of them.  Grandpa’s house was surrounded by them. So was his neighbor’s.  Ugly. Box-like. Overgrown.  You want a landscape design that is more modern, flowing, and welcoming than the old taxus. Let’s move on.

Wait.

How about an evergreen that grows in the shade?  How about a reliable dark green, almost black backdrop for flowering plants of light, color, and texture?  How about a steady green building block to extend formal lines of the house out into the landscape? How about a plant that speaks tradition, civilization, and culture unlike any other? How about a way to develop architectural structure and living garden walls in a space without ever hiring a mason or carpenter?  Landscaped garden areas need ‘bones’—structural elements that stay put as an anchor for the seasonal actors come and go.

It’s time to see Yew in a new and different light. It’s time to look beyond Grandpa’s hedge and see how this traditional plant can brighten your landscape today.

Yew comes in many different forms.

There are groundcover-like species that spread feathery greenness across the shaded garden.  (Greenwave, Everlow, Emerald Spreader) 

There are Columnar varieties for taller-than-you screening along your shady property line. These can be sheared or just left to grow natural and feathery (Adams, Capitata, Fastigiata)

There are wide, spreading versions for that comfortable mounded anchor planting.  (Brownii, Media, etc…)

There are thin, pencil-like selections which make an ideal punctuation in the garden without taking up much space at all. (Viridis, Beanpole, Eddie)

And then, of course, there’s an assortment of types for the trimmed hedge just like Grandpa’s.