This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Yew tree advice if possible please
gordonpitcairn
Posts: 6
Hello all.
I'm a newbie from New Zealand and have a pair of yew trees either side of a path in my garden. They have looked great for the last 20 or more years but I have just recently noticed that one is looking a trifle different and has some yellowed growth in one section and a large clumping bushy outgrowth has been pushing its way outward for some time now. Id love to keep the tree and wonder whether anyone had any advice as to what I should be doing ie: pruning the outgrowth or yellowing branches away?
Thanks for reading and hope to get some of your learned thoughts.
Thanks from New Zealand
g
I hope my pic comes out the right way up!
0
Posts
Yews are very forgiving plants, often grown as hedges and topiary so they respond well to pruning, clipping and shaping. However, it looks as tho your two are fastigiate or columnar plants and they do sometimes "blow" their upright shape as they age but you can fix that by tying in wayward branches and pruning.
Changes in leaf colour can be down to feeding and watering as well as the season - paler in spring then maturing to darker over the summer and autumn.
I suggest you have a read of this info from the RHS, especially the sections on pruning and on fastigiate yews - https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/yew/growing-guide to see if that helps. Remember to add or subtract 6 months from the timings as your seasons down under are opposite to ours up here.