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Large yew tree

fishannonfishannon Posts: 11
in The potting shed
I’ve grown this yew tree from a seedling, 1988 over the years my husband had kept it as part of a mixed hedge,shaped and under control. After hubby passed away it’s gone rampant, huge I’m in a quandary about what to do. It’s now costing me£150 a year to have it cut back. The birds love it all their feeders are hanging under it, it’s B&B for sparrows. 
suggestions please on what I can do.It’s too big really for my garden, I can’t kill anything or have it cut down I’m a dab hand at rescuing neglected plants from supermarkets.so it has to be kind.

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    You have to decide whether the pleasure from watching the birds on the feeders is worth the £150 a year maintenance.  The choice is pay up or have it cut down to a size you can manage yourself.  You could take the mushroom top off and prune it to a smaller mageable shape. Yew will regrow from brown wood after being heavily cut back.
  • fishannonfishannon Posts: 11
    Thank you for your reply, much appreciated.
    Will the tree grow back green if I get it reshaped and cut right back into the hard wood.? 
    Is the bare soil underneath poisoned by needle droppings or just very dry because of the over hang..it was cut right back at the base to the trunk, now like a big lollypop, only just tiny sprouts 12 months later
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    You can have it cut right down to a stump near ground level  … it will regrow and you can keep it shaped and trimmed to a size so that it can be kept tidy without the need for ladders etc. 😊 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • fishannonfishannon Posts: 11
    Thank you for giving me the confidence to reduce considerably. I couldn’t be that drastic I don’t think I’ll live that long to see it to recover, getting on a bit!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    These yews were cut down to six foot stumps … ten years later they were back up to where they were! 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • StephenSouthwestStephenSouthwest Posts: 635


  • fishannonfishannon Posts: 11
    Oh my gosh Stephen, that looks so very cruel in Dartington Hall.
    Thank you all,  I’ve now got a bit more confidence in cutting my big Yew tree really fast back. I will take before and after photos. I have grown it from a self set 6” seedling I pulled from out of a grave in Payton’s London Road Cemetery in Coventry in 1986. I am quite sure it shouldn’t be in a small city garden.

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