Pruning Yew
By Ania Wiatr
If you are new to pruning shrubs, yews (Taxus spp.), are a great choice to get comfortable with this craft. This evergreen plant provides year-round interest in the garden with its glossy, dark green needles, and red berries in the summer. It is commonly used as a row hedge and it looks great as a living fence or as a green row against a wall or building.
The maintenance of a yew hedge is very easy. Depending on the style of your landscape, you can shape it formally or more naturally. Either way, to promote healthy growth, it is a good idea to prune yew every year in late winter or early spring, just before the new light green growth comes out.
Formal pruning
If your yew has been pruned regularly in the few past years, your job will simply be to maintain the shape of the hedge. Using shears, pruners, or a power hedge trimmer, sheer off the top and sides of the shrub to a desirable size — or to the deepest layer of healthy, green growth. Take care not to take too much off and expose bare wood.
To keep a straight line while trimming an evergreen hedge, use a piece of twine or string. Tie each end of the string to the edge branches of the hedge row at the desired height, and use it to guide your pruning tool of choice.
If you are doing a formal pruning to a yew hedge that is old and overgrown, a 2-phase pruning approach is best:
- After establishing a string line, reduce thick branches and any dead wood with a pair of good sharp loppers. Cut main stems at a point slightly above a set of side shoots, and slightly lower than the string line (see photos below). This allows the tips of its side shoots to be trimmed to the level of the string, reducing the visibility of the bare, cut ends of the thicker stems.
- Once you have reduced the biggest branches, do a light top and side pruning using shears or pruners.
When pruning an overgrown hedge, don’t worry if you have to expose some bare wood. Yews are tough and can recover hard pruning easily.
Informal pruning
For a more natural look, avoid straight lines and let your artistic vision take over. Using the technique of cutting just above the side shoots, select some of the tallest branches and reduce them to a point on the stem where it looks natural and balances well with the rest of the stems. Take your time doing this job, step back often to take a look from a distance, and stop when you think you’ve pruned enough.
Happy pruning!
Ania Wiatr is a Senior Horticulturist at Philbrook Museum of Art.
