Do Yew trees grow in the states?

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Last year my wife and I took a trip to England to do some research on my family history and in the cemetery of Christchurch Warminster we found many of my ancestors. A fantastic thing. Anyway, there was a HUGE yew tree, maybe 400 years old, growing in the cemetery, and I sort of smuggled home one of the pine-type cones that came from it. My hope is to be able to grow a yew tree from it here on our property. Wouldn't that be cool!

The challenge is, I know very little about raising any kind of plants. If it isn't a weed, I'll probably kill it. I don't want to take that chance with this. I thought about taking the seed-pod to a local nursery and seeing if they'd give it a shot, but I don't know if nurseries will do that sort of thing. What do you suggest?

Oh, and does anyone know if Yew trees will even grow in the states? I don't recall ever seeing one over here, but it seems like if it would grow in England, it shouldn't be a problem here in Maryland.

Thanks!

-- Chuck (woah@mission4me.com), February 14, 2002

Answers

A little vapor lock on the link up there. If you're interested in the results of our research, click here.

-- chuck in md (woah@mission4me.com), February 14, 2002.

Chuck: The short answer is of course they do.

The longer answer is still yes and for a while the Pacific NW had them up the ying-yang, until a few people starting stripping the bark off for production of cancer drugs. The trees in UK are slightly different and larger, mainly due to less pollution and better management. http://www.woodnet.org/PacificYew.htm or http://www.woodnet.org.uk/woodeducation/yews.htm

-- al (yr2012@hotmail.com), February 14, 2002.


Chuck - they even grow in Canada! We sell them at the garden centre where I work. The English variety would be Taxus baccata, hardy to zone 6-8 (Canadian zones so you should be fine). "Robin Hood is said to have made his bow from this wood." from Tree & Shrub Gardening for Ontario, Alison Beck, Kathy Renwald. Neither of my best reference books say anything about propagation (making little trees) but I would assume they would need cold treatment before they would grow. Whatever you do, don't do it with all your seeds. Soak a few before planting. Stratify a few (that's cold treatment). Try a variety of things. You do need both a female and a male plant to produce the 'seed pod'. Best would be to find a nursery near to you that actually grows their own stock. Unfortunately, these days, many places buy in started plant plugs and don't even grow their own, so finding one that knows proper germination process for yew trees might be tricky. Do you have an agricultural university near you? I'd try them.

How wonderful you were able to find ancestors! The genealogy bug has bit me as well. My family has been very well researched, but I'm still struggling to make the overseas connection for my husband's family. Each little piece I find brings immense satisfaction. Hubby just doesn't see what I find so fascinating looking for hours at rolls of microfilm!

Anyway, lots of luck with the yew tree. (I'd keep a seed or two - interesting in the family history book.

-- Bernie from Northern Ontario (bernadette_kerr@hotmail.com), February 14, 2002.


I'm glad you enjoyed the trip. I remember lots of Yew trees when I was growing up in the U.K. I also seem to remember them being very poisonous and cattle dying from eating them, I'm not 100% sure but maybe something to check before you decide where to plant it.

-- Judy S in W,Wa (TootlesTheBrit@aol.com), February 14, 2002.

chuck, don't know if this helps or not but as I am in Oregon, as mentioned above we do have Yew, right here on our property too. I am answering your post not because I know anything about them but that we have frequently been in touch with both Weyerhouser(it is because of them that I have all that wonderful spring water piped down from 750 ft. up the hill)and Georgia Pacific. Both of them practically give away bundles of soft wood trees every year left over from replanting. You might contact them maybe if they are in your area? Just a thought, they sure helped us plant lots of trees here, including Yew. have fun, and thanks again for your cool pictures and instructions here, they are neat. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 14, 2002.


Seems that this is one slow tree to start from seed, here is what I found:

Habitat: On limestone and chalk. Often occurs in the dense shade of Oak woods. Used for hedging and topiary. Difficult seed propagation , Deeply dormant seed needing treatment from collection in autumn to the spring of the following season (ie 18 months). Medium sized evergreen tree with characteristic red fleshy berries (called arils). Single seed in each aril.

All parts of the tree except red aril are poisonous to man and animals although deer browse young seedlings. Birds eat the arils and spread the seed.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), February 14, 2002.


From BC's info, you probably have only one seed Chuck. Hmm.

-- Bernie from Northern Ontario (bernadette_kerr@hotmail.com), February 14, 2002.

Any tree or shrub in the genus Taxus would do it. Most common in the states is any of a number of ornamentals. They propagate nicely by cutting and layering.

Oscar

-- Oscar (owill@mail.whittier.edu), February 15, 2002.


Most yews are poisnous to humans and live stock, in fact fatal. The wood is prized for use in making bows (like bows and arrows not X mas present toppers). I will say they do OK in Pa, as my parents had several planted (on the north side) of the house, and they grew like weeds.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), February 15, 2002.

I had to cut one down last year when it was doing damage to a customers home. I kept the main trunk for accent wood in woodworking projucts, the heartwood is purple.

-- Paul (treewizard@buffalo.com), February 15, 2002.


Did you harvest a berry or a cone?Yews have berries, firs have cones.

-- VickiP. (countrymous@webtv.net), February 15, 2002.

I harvested this:



-- chuck in md (woah@mission4me.com), February 15, 2002.


As a lover of cows, I wouldnt have a yew on my property. It is deadly to them. It only takes one time of the cow getting out and nibbling on the bushes, and you have lost a thousand-dollar animal. No thanks!

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), February 15, 2002.

Hi, good picture. Looks like a fir cone to me.How long have you had it? It looks like a green cone, try drying it out to see if it opens. The seeds should be inside, just like a pine cone.After it opens you should be able to shake the seeds out, catch them on a sheet of white paper, plant in starting mix,should grow if the seeds are viable.If the cone won't open you can take it apart but the seeds will probably be too immature to grow.but it won't hurt to try. Good luck!

-- VickiP. (countrymous@webtv.net), February 15, 2002.

Chuck, You could try the nursery but a yew's fruit doesn't look like that. You could try a nursery anyway, and see what they will do for you. It is more of a bright red berry with a seed inside. Yew do grow in the States, and in Canada. There are populations mostly in the pacific coast with some disjuct populations in rainy sides of some interior mountains, like the rockies. I have a bow made from the Northern Cascades of Oregon. If you want a yew tree in Maryland, I'm sure the local nursery can aquire one for you. The north American yew is Taxus Brevifolia, and it is beautiful. I'm not familiar with the cone that you showed, it does look like some kind of fir, but not one I'm familiar with- but it isn't yew. if it is fir that would be the Abies family; here's what Ken Druse has to say about growing it from seed in his book Making More Plants: fresh seed-soak 30 hours, and then moist cold surface sowing (30 days), with exposure to light, sow indoors (50-60 degrees F) germination in 21-30 days. Keep in mind that when drying out and waiting for the cone to open, that wind does not blow your tiny seeds away; many are build to be whisked away by a breeze; be very carefull or you might lose them all. If it all seems to complicated, explain your reasons to a local nursery, usually plant people will take kindly to a seed, especially one with a good story like that. Good luck.

-- roberto pokachin in B.C. (pokachinni@yahoo.com), February 16, 2002.


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