Yew
Taxus x media
A dense, dark evergreen, one of the most common shrubs, grown because it takes even the hardest pruning into hedges, topiary and foundation plantings, in sun or heavy shade. It needs well-drained soil, since wet soil rots it. Its leaves, bark and seeds are highly poisonous to people and pets.
- Mature size
- 3.5 × 5 ft
- 1.1 × 1.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–7b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium
Yew at its mature size
A mature Yew grows 3 to 4 feet tall and 4 to 6 feet wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: Monrovia.
Through the year
What Yew looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Year-round
Dense dark green flat needles.
Photos
Growing Yew
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Midwest, and the Plains and Mountain West.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Hedge, small space, foundation planting, and shade garden
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Europe and Japan
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Yew, that’s about 5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Yew in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other yews
Yew
Hicks YewAll drawn to the same scale.