Conifer hedging
How to grow a yew hedge
Taxus baccata
Yew grows in sun or shade on chalk, clay or sand, provided the soil never sits wet: waterlogging is the one thing that kills it. Plant between October and March, two plants to the metre, raising the root ball slightly on heavy ground. Clip once a year in August or September. It is not as slow as its reputation, putting on 20 to 30 cm a year once settled.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy
- Position
- Sun to shade
- Soil
- Fertile, free-draining (must not waterlog)
- Ideal pH
- 6.0 to 7.5
- Water
- Low; never waterlogged
- Feeding
- Light feeder
Sowing and planting a yew hedge
WhenPlant Oct to Mar; clip Aug to Sep (once a year is enough)
Starting off
Plant bare-root or root-balled hedging Oct to Mar in soil that never waterlogs, which is the one thing yew cannot stand; container stock goes in any time. Propagate by 15 cm semi-ripe cuttings with a heel in Sep to Oct in gritty compost in a cold frame, rooting slowly over 12 months; seed needs two winters of cold to germinate and 10 years to make a hedge plant, so buy 40 to 60 cm plants.
Spacing and planting
A free-growing yew reaches 10 to 20 m by 8 m over a century; hedges are held at 1.5 to 4 m. Plant hedging at 45 to 60 cm apart in a single row (2 plants per metre), or stagger at 60 cm in a double row 45 cm apart for a very thick hedge; set the rootball level with the surface on a slight ridge if the soil is heavy. Fastigiate 'Fastigiata' or 'Standishii' suits a 45 to 60 cm pot as a topiary column.
Varieties worth growing
- English yew (Taxus baccata)
- The species, for hedging and topiary. Dense, dark, clips to a sharp edge and regrows from bare wood if it ever gets out of hand.
- 'Fastigiata' (Irish yew)
- Upright columns of dark green that need no clipping to hold their shape. The churchyard yew, and a strong vertical in a border.
- 'Standishii'
- Slow, narrow, golden column reaching about 1.5 m in ten years. The best yew for a pot or a small garden.
- 'Repandens'
- Low, spreading yew under 1 m tall for ground cover in dry shade where little else evergreen will grow.
- T. × media 'Hicksii'
- Upright hybrid yew sold for hedging; naturally narrow, very hardy and quick to make a screen with less side clipping.
A yew hedge month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Plant in open weather. Knock heavy snow off topiary before it splays the branches.
- February
Plant. Nothing to do on established hedges.
- March
Last bare-root and root-balled planting. Feed young hedges and mulch.
- April
Check new plants are firm. Water if the spring is dry. Hard renovation of one face of an overgrown hedge.
- May
Tip back the new growth on young hedges to thicken them.
- June
Water hedges planted since autumn, 10 litres per plant weekly in dry spells.
- July
Keep watering new hedges. Trim topiary if you want it crisp for summer.
- August
The annual clip, once the new growth has hardened.
- September
Finish clipping. Take semi-ripe heel cuttings.
- October
Planting season opens. Prepare ground and check that it drains.
- November
Plant root-balled and bare-root hedging.
- December
Plant in mild spells. Nothing else to do.
Feeding a yew hedge
A light feeder. A balanced feed and a mulch each March brings a young hedge on noticeably faster; once the hedge has reached its height, stop.
Low, slow and long-lived; a light spring feed. Good drainage matters far more.
Feeding plan
At planting, October to March
5 g per litre of root ball: 10 g for a 2 litre pot, 25 g for a 5 litre pot or a root ball of similar size, rubbed onto the outside of the roots. Once only.
March, young hedges still gaining height
100 g per metre run: the label's 100 g/m² over a strip 1 m wide, half scattered each side of the row and watered in.
March, after feeding
Garden compost
A 5 cm mulch along the strip, kept off the stems. Do not pile it deep on heavy soil, where it holds wet against the roots.
March, topiary in pots
2 g per litre of compost on the surface: about 60 g for a 45 cm pot holding 30 litres.
Established hedges
Nothing
No fertiliser. Feed again only in the spring after a hard renovation cut, at the same 100 g per metre.
Signs to watch
Uniformly pale yellow-green growth on a young hedge
Nitrogen hunger on poor soil
Balanced feed at 100 g per metre run in Mar and a 5 cm compost mulch
Older needles yellow between the veins on light sand
Magnesium short
Epsom salts drench; yew on chalk is never chlorotic
Pests, diseases and problems
Foliage turns dull, then yellow, then bronze-brown over a whole plant; several plants in a row follow
Phytophthora root rot in soil that waterlogs
No cure. Remove dead plants with as much root as possible, fix the drainage or raise the bed, and do not replant yew in the same wet spot.
Brown patches on a newly planted hedge in its first summer
Drought at the root, or a root ball that was planted too deep and has stayed wet; both look the same above ground
Check the soil 10 cm down before watering. If dry, give 10 litres per plant weekly; if wet, stop watering and scrape soil back so the top of the root ball is level with the surface.
Notches eaten from the leaf margins; young or pot-grown plants wilt and are loose in the soil
Vine weevil: adults notch the leaves, grubs eat the roots
Water on nematodes in late August or September and again in April when the compost is above 5 °C. Established hedges tolerate the adults.
Shoot tips form tight leafy rosettes like tiny artichokes
Yew gall midge
Harmless. The annual clip removes them.
Brown bumps on the young stems and a black sooty film on the foliage in summer
Yew scale; sooty mould grows on the honeydew it drops
Tolerate light attacks. Clip in August and bin the clippings from badly affected stretches.
Pruning
Pruning and care
Clip once a year in Aug to Sep, when the summer growth has hardened, shaping the hedge narrower at the top than the base so light reaches the lower branches; young hedges are also tipped in May to thicken. Unlike most conifers, yew regrows from bare old wood, so a neglected hedge is renovated by cutting one face back hard to the trunk in Apr, then the other face 2 to 3 years later once the first has gre
Good to knowThe classic clippable evergreen hedge and topiary; tolerates hard pruning into old wood. All parts are toxic.
Growing a yew hedge in pots
Yew is excellent in a pot as a clipped ball, cone or column: use a 45 to 60 cm pot with good drainage holes, raised on feet, and a loam-based compost such as John Innes No 3 with a fifth by volume of grit. The risk in a pot is the same as in the ground, wet roots in winter, so never stand it in a saucer. Water when the top few centimetres are dry, top-dress in March, and repot every three to four years.
A yew hedge: common questions
Why is my yew hedge turning brown?
The usual cause is waterlogged roots. Yew that browns across whole plants, especially after a wet winter or on heavy clay, has root rot and will not recover unless the drainage is fixed. Browning in the first summer after planting is more often drought, and a bronze tint after a cold windy winter greens up again by June.
Is yew poisonous?
Yes, every part of yew is poisonous to people, dogs, horses and livestock except the red flesh around the seed, and the seed inside it is toxic. Clipping a hedge is safe with ordinary care, but never leave clippings where horses or cattle can reach them.
How fast does a yew hedge grow?
About 20 to 30 cm a year once established, and up to 40 cm on good soil with feeding. From 40 to 60 cm plants allow six to eight years for a dense 1.8 m hedge.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.